





ScMOOlTVi STORY 



OF TME 



Un iTf d States 

J. Wm. Jones 



(<,\5 



^i UNIVERSITY 
PUBL!SH!NC 
COMPft^^Y<^o 





Class _' _^ 
Copyright N° 



COPYRIGHT DEPOStt 



SCHOOL HISTORY 



UNITED STATES 



J. WM. JONES, D. D. 

Former Chaplain in Army of Northern Virginia. Late Chaplain University 
of Virginia. Chaplain-General United Confederate Veterans. 



Author "Personal Reminiscences of R. E. Lee," "Christ in the Ca.mp, 

"Davis Memorial Volume," former Secretary Southern Historical 

socif.ty, and editor of i4 volumes southern historical 

Society Papers, Etc. 



REVISED EDITION. 



ILLUSTRATED. 



UNIVERSITY PUBLISHING COMPANY. 

* NEW YORK AND NEW ORLEANS. 
•'" igoi. 



THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

Two Copies Received 

MAY. 29 1901 

Copyright entry 

CLASS Oyy^T^c^ Na. 

/03Z 3 

COPY B. 



COPYRIGHT, l8g6, By 

R. H. Woodward Company. 

COPYRIGHT, 189S, IQOI, BY 

University Publishing Company. 



:I967 



<<\ 



PREKaCE. 



For many years I have been solicited to write a School History of 
the United States which, while fair to all sections, would do full jus- 
tice to the Southern States. In traveling all over the South, I have 
heard general complaint that histories by Northern authors are 
unjust and unfair to our section. in ^tjieir treatment of the Colonial 
and Revolutionary periods, and that when they come to deal with 
the causes, conduct, and results of the great War between the 
States they are utterly unfair, and misleading, both in what they 
include, and in what they omit. 

It is also thought that some books by Southern authors are either 
unsuitable for the schoolroom, or lose their value by an attempt to 
be neutral, and hence colorless, on the great questions that have 
divided the sections, and that, compiling from Northern histories, 
they have fallen into many of their errors. 

For some twenty years I have been collecting material and pre- 
paring myself for the task, studying earnestly not only the best of 
the current histories, but original sources of information as well, 
and diligently seeking to reach the exact truth on all disputed 
points. 

Born, reared, and educated on Southern soil, following for four 
years with youthful devotion the battle-flag of the Southern Confed- 
eracy, for twelve years Secretary of the Southern Historical Society, 
and during all of these years devoting time and close attention to 
American history, I may claim that I have had some facilities for 
ascertaining facts, and some qualifications for preparing, a history 
of the United States which shall be acceptable to the South, and 
fit to be taught in her schools. 



4 PREFACE. 

I have tried to avoid sectional and partisan bias, and to do justice 
to all sections of our common country; but writing as a Southerner, 
and for Southern schools, I have treated more fully than I have seen 
elsewhere many matters of especial interest to the South. It 
ought, however, to be added that I have not, so far as I am aware, 
made a single statement which cannot be verified and substantiated 
by the strongest proofs. 

I have had in the preparation of this book the valuable assistance 
of an accomplished, practical teacher, while I am greatly indebted to 
Rev. Dr. J. C. Hiden, of Richmond, Va., for a thorough revision of 
my whole manuscript, and to Professors W. E. Peters, and Noah K. 
Davis, of the University of Virginia, for going over and making 
valuable suggestions concerning the more important parts. 

If it is thought by any that I have given undue space to particular 
periods of the history, let it be remembered that certain great prin- 
ciples and events have been generally so incorrectly stated, or so 
studiously omitted, in the histories our youth have been accustomed 
to study that I have felt called on to give them more clearly and 
more fully than might otherwise seem necessary. 

It is hoped that the questions and the blackboard or slate exer- 
cises will be found useful; but the intelligent teacher will see to it 
that the scholar understands the text, and is interested and stimu- 
lated to pursue further the story of our country's history. 

With a full sense of the responsibility involved in publishing a 
history of our wonderful country for the study of our youth, with 
the earnest hope that it may prove acceptable, and with the fervent 
prayer that it may be useful in training future citizens- of our great 
Republic, I send it forth on its mission. 

J. VV. J. 

University of Virginia, 

April 2, 1895. 



AUTHORS NOTE TO NEW EDITION. 



The author of this book has, since its first appearance, availed 
himself of the aid of practical teachers, and others, to enable him 
to make such changes and corrections as would render it more 
accurate, acceptable, and useful. 

He has carefully considered such criticisms and suggestions as 
have come to him, has diligently gone over the whole book, and 
sends forth this new edition in the confident hope that it will be 
found a decided improvement on the previous edition. 

J. W. J. 

Richmond, Va., 
April, igoi. 



AUTHORITIKS CONSULTED. 



It has not been deemed wise to cumber the text with foot-notes 
on authorities consulted in the preparation of this history, but the 
author has made diligent use of many authorities in settling points 
of doubt. 

Besides twenty-five or more of the leading school histories of the 
United States, which he has had on his shelves and freely used (fre- 
quently to avoid their errors), he has consulted for the general his- 
tory such books as Winsor's " Narrative and Critical History of 
America," Bancroft's, Hildreth's and A. H. Stephens's "' History 
of the United States," Thwaites on " The Colonies." Hart on " The 
Formation of the Union," and Woodrow Wilson on " Division and 
Reunion," Rives's " Life and Letters of Madison," Lee's " Memoirs 
of the War in the Southern Department," Madison's " Journal of 
the Constitutional Convention of 1787," and a large number of 
books and pamphlets bearing on the Revolution, and the early his- 



6 AUTHORITIES CONSULTED. 

tory of the Union: Irving's '"Life of Washington," Marshall's "Life 
of Washington," William Wirt Henry's " Life of Patrick Henry," 
Campbell's " History of Virginia," lives of Jeflferson, Madison, 
Monroe, and Adams, Benton's "Thirty Years in the Senate," " Let- 
ters and Times of the Tylers," Congressional Debates, and Reports 
of Departments, and a large number of other books, pamphlets and 
manuscripts. 

For the causes, conduct, and results of the great War between 
the States, he has studied and consulted Jefferson Davis's " Rise 
and Fall of the Confederate Government," A. H. Stephens's " War 
Between the States," Bledsoe's " Is Davis a Traitor? " Judge Sage's 
" Republic of Republics," Derry's " Story of the Confederate 
States," Southern Historical Society Papers, " Official Records of 
the Union, and Confederate Armies," Taylor's " Four Years With 
Lee," Col. Wm. Allan's " Jackson's Valley Campaign," " Virginia 
Campaign of 1862," and " Battle of Chancellorsville," Dabney's 
" Life of Jackson," " Life of Albert Sidney Johnston," by Col. Wil- 
liam Preston Johnston; Joseph E. Johnston's "Narrative," Hood's 
" Advance and Retreat," Jones's " Reminiscences of R. E. Lee," 
" Christ in the Camp," and Davis " Memorial Volume," Fitzhugh 
Lee's " Life of R. E. Lee," Roman's " Memoir of General G. T. 
Beauregard," John Johnson's " Defense of Fort Sumter and 
Charleston," Grant's " Memoirs," Sherman's " Memoirs," Draper's 
" Civil War in America," Greeley's " American Conflict," Scrib- 
ner's " Campaigns of the Civil War," Swinton's " Army of the 
Potomac," Ropes's " Civil War," Jordan's " Life of N. B. Forrest," 
" Wyeth's Life of Forrest," McClellan's " Campaigns, of J. E. B. 
Stuart," Well's " The Cavalry Under Hampton," Col. Henderson's 
" Life of Stonewall Jackson," Bullock's " Secret Service of the Con- 
federacy in Europe," and many other books, pamphlets and manu- 
scripts too numerous to mention. 

In a word, the author has thoroughly examined every mooted 
point, and holds himself prepared to sustain by the most unques- 
tioned authority every statement he has made. 



CONTKNTS. 



PAGE. 

Preface 3 

Author's Note to New Edition 5 



PART I. 
DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION, A. D., 860-1607. 

CHAPTER. 

I. Discovery of America by the Northmen and Early 

Navigators 1 1 

II. Spanish Explorations 24 

III. French Explorations 29 

IV. English and Dutch Explorations 35 

Chronological Summary of Events 40 

PART II. 

SETTLEMENT AND GROWTH, A. D. 1607-1763. 

V. Settlement of Virginia 42 

VI. Settlement of New England 51 

VII. Settlement of New York, New Jersey, Delaware 

and Pennsylvania 58 

VIII. Settlement of Maryland, the Carolinas and Georgia, 63 

IX. Intercolonial Wars 71 

X. Colonial Home Life "/(i 

Chronological Summary of Events 80 



CONTENTS. 

PART III. 
REVOLUTION AND INDEPENDENCE. 1765-1783. 

CHAPTER. PAGE. 

XI. Opening of the Revolution 81 

XII. The Revolution 92 

Chronological Summary of Events 127 

PART IV. 
THE BUILDING OF THE UNION, 1781-1860. 

XIII. The Formative Period 128 

XIV. Washington's Administration (1789-1797) 133 

XV. John Adams's Administration (1797-1801) 143 

XVI. Jefferson's Administration (1801-1809) 147 

XVII. Madison's Administration (1809-1817) 155 

XVIII. Monroe's Administration (1817-1825) 169 

XIX. John Quincy Adams's Administration (1825-1829), 178 

XX. Jackson's Administration (1829-1837) 181 

XXI. Van Buren's Administration (1837-1841) 190 

XXII. Harrison's and Tyler's Administration (1841-1845), 193 

XXIII. Polk's Administration (1845-1849) 202 

XXIV. Taylor's and Fillmore's Administration (1849- 

1853) 212 

XXV. Pierce's Administration (1853-1857) 217 

XXVI. Buchanan's Administration (1857-1861) 225 

Chronological Summary of Events 240 

PART V. 

THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES. LINCOLN'S 
ADMINISTRATION. 

XXVII. First Year of the War (1861) 243 

XXVIII. Second Year of the War (1862) 273 

XXIX. Third Year of the War (1863) 31.? 



co:ntent8. 9 

CHAPTER. PAGE. 

XXX. Fourth Year of the War (1864) 338 

XXXI. Last Year of the War (1865) 366 

Chronological Summary of Events 393 



PART VI. 
REUNION AND PROGRESS, 1865-1901. 

XXXII. Johnson' Administration (1865-1869) 396 

XXXIII. Grant's Administration (1869-1877) 405 

XXXIV. Hayes's Administration (1877-1881) 413 

XXXV. Garfield's and Arthur's Administration (1881-1885), 415 

XXXVI. Cleveland's First Administration (1885-1889) 420 

XXXVII. Harrison's Administration (1889-1893) 425 

XXXVIII. Cleveland's Second Administration (1893-1897) . . . 430 

XXXIX. McKinley's Administration (1897 ) 437 

Chronological Summary of Events 453 

List of Presidents 454 

Historical and Statistical Tables 455 

Appendix: 

Declaration of Independence 

Constitution of United States ii 

Index xii 



PART I. 

Discovery and Exploration (A. D. 860-1607). 



CHAPTER I. 

DISCOVERY OF AMERICA BY THE NORTHMEN AND 
EARLY NAVIGATORS. 

America. — It seems strange to us, but is nevertheless 
true, that this vast continent, extending from the frozen 
regions of the north to the tropics of the south — from 
Hudson's Bay to Cape Horn — and from the Atlantic to 
the Pacific, wsls, for hundreds of years, an unknown land to 
the nations of Europe. 

The part now occupied by the United States with its 
seventy-five millions of people, and all its evidences of civil- 
ization and progress, was then a wilderness, inhabited by, 
perhaps, two hundred thousand roving savages living east of 
the Mississippi, and an undetermined number between the 
great river and the PaciBc. The people of Mexico, Central 
America and parts of South America were of a much higher 
type than those along the Atlantic slope, and the other 
regions east of the Mississippi, and there are evidences 
that substantially the same people were originally dwellers 
in the whole of North America. 

There exists all through the present limits of the United 
States, especially in the Mississippi Valley, mounds, fortifi- 
cations, and varied relics evidently showing a more civilized 
people than the Indians found in the limits of the United 
States, and for want of a better name these people are gen- 
erally called " Mound Builders." Where they came from, 



12 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

and who they were, has been a matter of great speculation, 
and various theories of interest have been advanced. 

Referring the reader to fuller histories of these people, it 
must suffice to say here that there is overwhelming evidence 
that " the Mound Builders " were of a higher order of civil- 
ization than the natives found here by early explorers, and 
settlers. 

The North American Indians.— The people found 
here were called, in general, Indians, though they were 
divided into clans or tribes who bore dififerent names, spoke 
different languages, and differed in many of their customs, 
though having common characteristics. 

The three great classifications of the Indians east of the 
Mississippi were the Algonquins of New England, and some 
of the tribes extending as far south as North Carolina, the 
Iroquois, or Five Nations (afterwards Six Nations) of New 
York, and the Mobilians, including the Creeks, Cherokees, 
and other smaller tribes, in the south. 

The Dakotas, Sioux, Comanches, and Apaches, were the 
principal tribes west of the Mississippi. 

With the exception of the Eskimo, the various tribes of 
Indians show a general resemblance. Their skin is brown 
or copper-colored ; their hair long, straight, black and 
coarse ; their beard scanty ; their eyes deep-seated, w^ith the 
iris dark ; nose broad and prominent ; face wide across 
the cheeks, which are high ; forehead broad and low, and the 
jaws powerful. They are indolent, stoical to the last degree, 
grave and taciturn, cruel in war, with a poetic and imagina- 
tive temperament, which is often shown by a simple elo- 
quence of the highest order. They lived in wigwams, 
cultivated only enough of the soil to afford them a little 
bread to eat with their fish and game, were constantly at 
war with other tribes, and required their women to do all of 
the work — • it being considered disgraceful for a warrior to 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 13 

do any manual labor. They were very scantily dressed, 
were fond of ibeads and other ornaments, and painted and 
tattooed their faces and bodies. 

They lived in groups of wigwams — rude huts of poles 
covered with bark and clay — but frequently changed their 
location for better hunting and fishing grounds, or under 
pressure from more powerful enemies. 

The bravest and most successful warrior was practically 
their leader or chief, but they knew little of law or order. 

Having no word in their language for Jehovah, and know- 
ing nothing of God, it was natural that they should be cruel 
and revengeful to their enemies, and that they should 
rejoice in the severest tortures that could be inflicted upon 
them. 

And yet they were frequently very kind to the settlers — 
more than once saved them from starvation by sharing their 
food v;ith them — and their cruel massacres of the whites 
frequently originated in bad faith, or cruel treatment of the 
Indians on the part of the colonists. Indeed, it has been 
earnestly and ably argued, by those in position to know, 
that from colonial days down to the present time there has 
never been an Indian outbreak in this country which did not 
originate, directly or indirectly, in the avarice, duplicity, or 
cruelty of the whites to the Indians. 

The belief that the American Indian is dying out is a 
common error. The best authorities agree that there are 
as many, if not more, in the country today than ever before. 
While some tribes have disappeared, others have increased, 
and they will doubtless exist as long as the Caucasian race. 

The " Indian problem " still confronts our Government, 
and people, but it is to be solved by the great solvent of the 
ages — the religion of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

The tribes gathered in the Indian Territory are largely 
civiHzed, educated, and Christianized. 



14 SCHOOL HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES. 

The Northmen or Norsemen. — This general name 
has been applied to the people of Norway, Sweden and 
Denmark, and it was the Danes and the Normans who con- 
quered Normandy in France, and overran England. The 
Northmen and the Saxons were the real founders of Eng- 
land, and of that great Anglo-Saxon race whose descendants 
we are, and of whose achievements we are so justly proud. 
' A thousand years ago the Northmen w'ere the most dar- 
ing sailors in the world. The ships of other nations kept 
near their own shores, but the mariners of the Northmen 
roved from the North Sea to the Mediterranean. Most of 
them were pirates, who ran down, robbed and burned ships 
wherever they found them. Steering out on the stormy At- 
lantic, they sailed for days and weeks, with little fear of not 
being able to return whenever they chose to do so. Thus 
it happened that one of the sea rovers, named Naddod, about 
the year 860, was caught in a tempest, which drove him on 
the coast of Iceland. He called it Snowland, but did not 
stay long. Another Northman, a few years later, sailed 
around the island and took home so pleasing an account 
that a colony settled there. They soon became discour- 
aged, however, and all went home, declaring the island not 
lit for the habitation of man. The attempt was renewed 
soon after, and a colony was established, which lasted for 
hundreds of years. 

One of the members of this colony was driven westward 
to Greenland, where a settlement was also planted and flour- 
ished for a time. A navigator, while striving to make his 
way thither, about the close of the tenth century, was forced 
so far southward that he caught sight of the upper eastern 
portion of our continent. In the year 1000, a Northman, 
known as Leif the Lucky, with a crew of thirty-five men, 
landed somewhere near Newfoundland. It is believed they 
cruised along the coast of New England as far south as 



tiCUOOL HhSTORl OF THE UNITED .STATEi^. 15 

Rhode Island. They named the country Vineland, and 
when they set sail, their little vessel was loaded with luscious 
grapes and valuable timber, which they carried back to show 
their wondering countrymen. Other Northmen visited the 
new and strange land and a colony was founded. But the 
settlers quarreled among themselves and acted so cruelly 
toward the natives that the latter gave them little rest. By 
and by, all the settlements were abandoned. Not a white 
man was left on the North American continent, which, it 
may be said, had ibeen found and lost again. Five hundred 
years rolled by, and all that was known of the New World 
was that which had come down in misty legend and tradi- 
tion. The vast continent lay in silent grandeur and desola- 
tion, with the oceans booming against its shores and with 
no white sails dotting the surface of its waters. The cen- 
turies swept past, and still the great world lay sleeping and 
forgotten. The awakening did not come till the fifteenth 
century was drawing to a close. 

Christopher Columbus • Christopher Columbus was 

a native of Genoa (gen'oa), Italy, where he was born be- 
tween 1435 and 1450. He worked with his father, a wool 
chandler, until a large boy, when he went to sea and became 
a good sailor. He was thoughtful and fond of study. He 
came to believe the earth was round. Other learned people 
agreed with him, but all thought it much smaller than it 
really is. 

Now, if the earth was a sphere, it followed that a ship 
could sail round it. The valuable spices, silks, gold, and 
precious stones, which were brought from India to Europe 
were carried on the backs of camels and other beasts of 
burden. It would be an incalculable saving if a route to 
India and Asia could be found by sailing westward. 
Columbus was so firmly convinced that this was practicable 
that he gave his whole thought and energy to procuring the 
means of fitting out an expedition to make the search. 



16 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

He was too poor to buy, or man the smallest ship. Portu- 
gal, at that time, was the leading country in sending out 
navigators on voyages of discovery. " Prince Henry, the 
Navigator," had fitted out a number of such expeditions, 
which coasted along Africa. One of these in 1487 doubled 
the Cape of Good Hope, but went no further. Columbus 
naturally turned to Portugal for help. Doubtless he would 
have obtained it had Prince Henry been alive, but all to 
whom he applied were doubters, and shook their heads. 
The king's advisers ridiculed his theory and considered him 
little better than a crazy man. The king himself, however, 
was half-convinced that the ardent sailor was right. So he 
secretly sent out one of his captains to make search for the 
new route to Asia. This navigator was too timid to go far, 
and hurried back with word that no such route existed. 
When Columbus learned of the trick by which the king had 
tried to rob him of his rights he was indignant and left the 
country. He sent his brother to England to make his offers 
to the king of that country, while he turned to see what he 
could do in Spain. 

The story of the wanderings and discouragements of Co- 
lumbus is one of the most pathetic in history. At times he 
was compelled to beg for food and lodging, and often went 
hungry. Now and then he earned a little money by draw- 
ing charts and maps, and selling them. His wife died, but 
holding the hand of his little boy, he wandered from town to 
town, following the court and urging his claims whenever 
he gained the chance. Now and then some wise man lis- 
tened thoughtfully, and showed by his questioning and 
manner that he was beginning to wonder whether there was 
not ground after all for the arguments of the weary but 
ardent Italian. 

Spain at that time was busy fighting the Aloors. Colum- 
bus was rebuffed and put off, again and again, until at the 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STITES. 17 

end of seven years the Junta to which King Ferdinand re- 
ferred the matter pronounced against the scheme, and the 
monarch confirmed the decision. One obstacle to the suc- 
cess of Columbus in enlisting favor was the liberal reward 
he insisted upon. He demanded a large share in the lauds 
he might discover, and would not consent to abate those 
claims in the slightest degree. 

But the day came when he felt there was no hope of get- 
ting anything from the rulers of Spain. With a heavy heart 
he turned to leave the country, thinking he might interest 
the king of France in his project. He had not gone far, 
however, when he was overtaken by a messenger from 
Queen Isabella with the glad news that she had agreed to 
furnish him the means for fitting out his expedition. The 
heart of the great navigator must have throbbed with 
delight. 

The Westward Voyage. — Columbus found it hard to 
engage crews for his vessels. Where there was so much 
superstition among the learned, the common, uneducated 
people had no belief in the scheme of the navigator. They 
were sure that, if they ventured out too far on the " Sea of 
Darkness," as the Atlantic was called, they would 'be de- 
voured by monsters they supposed to be in those w^aters. 
At any rate, they were almost certain they would never re- 
turn to their homes again. When at last a sufBcient num- 
ber of men were engaged to manage the little ships, their 
weeping wives and families bade them good-bye, as they 
believed, forever. 

The immortal fleet consisted of three caravels, or small 
vessels, only one of which, the Sa)ifa Maria, had a deck. 
This was the vessel in which Columbus himself sailed. The 
others were the Pinta and the Nina. They left Palos, a 
harbor in the south of Spain, with 120 men on board, 
Friday, August 3, 1492. 



18 SCHOOL aitiTORY OF TEE UNITED STATES. 

Six days after setting sail, the ileet reached the Canary 
Islands. There they stayed until some repairs were made 
on the Piiita, and fresh water and supplies were taken on 
board. Then the three vessels turned their prows westward 
and set out on the most famous voyage in the history of the 
world. 

Columbus had to resort to every means which he could 
think of to calm the fears of the sailors and prevent them 
from breaking out in mutiny. Because the wdnd blew 
steadily from the east, they thought it would never change 
and they would be unable to return. The navigator de- 
ceived them by keeping two records of their progress. He 
did not let them see the true one, but showed them one 
which indicated that they had not gone nearly as far as was 
the fact. 

After a time the needle of the compass began to swerve 
from the north. This puzzled Columbus, but when his men 
found it out, he was ready with the explanation that the 
needle pointed to a star which revolved around the north 
star. He told them that would cause a variation, and they 
believed him. 

One fact, however, could not be hidden from the terrified 
men : every day and hour were carrying them further from 
their homes and increasing the probability that they would 
never be able to sail back over the vast waste of waters. 
They grew homesick, sullen, and so frightened that they 
plotted among themselves to throw Columbiis overboard 
and to take the ships into their own charge. Had the dis- 
covery of land been delayed a few days longer this would 
probably have been done. 

Columbus threatened and pleaded with them. He told 
them of the great riches they were sure to find, and prom- 
ised them rewards if they would continue a little while 
longer. Fortunately, the signs of land soon became so un- 



SCHOOL HhSTORY OF THE UMTED STATES. 



19 



mistakable that hope took the place of despair and discon- 
tent. Birds that were known never to venture far from land 
circled about the ships ; the branch of a thorn tree, with ber- 
ries on it, drifted past, and finally a carved stick was seen 
and taken from the water. All now believed they were 
drawins: near land. 



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KIKST SIGHT OF LAND BY COLUMBUS. 



Hardly an eye was closed that night on board the three 
ships. Columbus took his station on the upper deck, near 
the stern, of the Saiifa Maria and peered long and anxiously 
through the darkness to the westward. All at once a light 
flashed out like a star. Then it glided along, as if close to 
the horizon, and bobbed up and down, just as a torch does 
when carried in the hand of a man running along the beach. 



20 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

There had ibeen so many disappointments that Columbus 
decided to wait before caUing out that he had discovered 
land. But the Hght quickly vanished. 

The Discovery of Land About 2 o'clock in the 

morning, the boom of a small cannon on board the Pinta 
told the thrilling news that land had been discovered. As 
the sun came up out of the ocean behind them, the sailors 
saw a lovely island, covered with tropical vegetation and the 
naked and wondering natives peering from among the trees 
at their strange visitors. This was on Friday, October 12, 
1492, just ten weeks from the day they set sail. 

Columbus put on his brilliant uniform and was rowed 
ashore. Stepping out on solid land, he devoutly kneeled 
and thanked God for crowning his voyage with such mar- 
velous success. Then he unfurled the standard of Spain and 
took possession of the country in the name of his sover- 
eigns. The sailors who had been rebellious now crowded 
around and on their knees begged his forgiveness. It can 
well be understood that the great discoverer freely pardoned 
them. 

It is not known with certainty precisely where Columbus 
made his first landing in the New World. The island was 
one of the Bahamas, and he called it San Salvador. It is 
generally believed to have been Watling Island. Certain, 
however, that it was a part of India, he called the natives 
Indians (ind'yans), by which name the native races of 
America are still known. 

The Return of Columbus Columbus stayed several 

days where he had landed, and then made a cruise among 
the adjoining islands. He discovered Cuba and Hayti and 
left a small colony at the latter. Through a mishap, the 
Santa Maria was wrecked, so that the return to Spain was 
made in the two smaller caravels. He took nine Indians 
with him, and reached Palos on the 15th of March, 1493, 
after an absence of about seven months. 



SCHOOL HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES. 



21 



As may be supposed, the return of Columbus to Spain 
was the grand triumph of the hfe of the navigator. He was 
received with the highest honors by the king and queen, and 
his great discovery caused a profound sensation wherever it 
became known. When he spoke of making other voyages 
he found no lack of means or of men. 




RECEPTION' OF COLrMniS AT COURT OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 



Other Voyages of Columbus. — The second expedi- 
tion of Columbus consisted of seventeen vessels and 1200 
men, among whom were many distinguished persons. It 
sailed from Cadiz, September 25, 1493. Visiting Hayti to 
find out about the colony he had left there, the dreadful dis- 
covery was made that not a white man was alive. They had 
acted so cruelly toward the Indians that the latter over- 
whelmed and massacred them all. 



22 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The result of the second expedition was disappointing. 
The mines that were opened were unproductive, nor could 
the riches that all had counted on be found. On his third 
voyage in 1498 Columbus saw the mainland of South Am- 
erica. His attempts at colonization were failures. Although 
a great discoverer, he was a poor governor, and did not 
know bow to rule the men over whom he bad authority. An 
officer sent out from Spain to look into the complaints made 
against Columbus, arrested him and sent him home in irons. 
The king and queen were shocked, and ordered bis instant 
release. On his fourth voyage, he discovered and named a 
number of new islands. He coasted Costa Rica and sailed 
as far as the Isthmus of Darien. He returned to Spain in 
1504, broken in health and spirits. Queen Isabella, his best 
friend, was dead, and it was impossible for him to obtain his 
rights. He died in poverty, May 20, 1506, 'believing to the 
last that be had not discovered a continent, but only the 
eastern parts of Asia. 

The Naming of America There has ,been much dis- 
cussion as to how America came to be named in honor of 
another person than Columbus. Amerigo Vespucci (am-a- 
re go ves-poot'chee),or as in the Latin, AmericusVespu'cius, 
was an Italian, born in 1452. Like his famous predecessor, 
he was a skillful navigator, whose ardor to discover new 
lands was fired by the achievement of Columbus. He made 
four voyages westward, and in bis published accounts 
claimed that his first was in May, 1497. If thi^ was true, he 
was the first man of that day to look upon the American 
continent. Late investigations seem to point to the truth 
of Vespucci's declaration. At any rate, he coasted South 
America previous to 1503. The claim was set up in an ac- 
count of the four voyages that the newly discovered country 
should be called America. The claim was conceded, and 
the name will doubtless so remain to the end of time. 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 23 

The Voyages of the Cabots It is a striking fact 

that the three navigators whose names are forever associ- 
ated with the discovery of America were Itahans. John 
Cabot, a Venetian, sailed westward from Bristol, England, 
in the spring of 1497, in search of a northern passage to 
China. Instead of finding what he sought, he found the 
continent of North America. The first land he saw is be- 
lieved to have been Cape Breton Island, at the mouth of the 
St. Lawrence. It was a grand discovery, and the claim of 
England to the continent of North America was based upon 
it and the subsequent explorations of his son, it being 
claimed that these were the first expeditions to reach the 
mainland. 

After sailing along these icy and inhospitable shores until 
his provisions gave out, John Cabot returned to England 
and was received with high honor- — -was called " the Great 
Admiral " — while his discoveries excited the greatest 
interest. 

He found no difficulty in arranging for a second voyage, 
but this was undertaken by his son Sebastian Cabot, and the 
probabilities are that the father died before the preparations 
for this voyage could be completed. 

Sebastian Cabot, with six ships and three hundred men, 
reached the coast of Labrador, sailed north until stopped by 
floating ice, and then coasted as far south as North Carolina. 
He landed at several points and came in contact with the 
Indians, and at the end of six months returned to England 
in the full belief that he had explored the eastern coast of 
Asia. 

Questions. — What about America? The American Indians? 
How divided? Tell about the Northmen. What do j'ou know 
about the birth and youth of Columbus? How were the treasures 
brought from India? What were the views of Columbus? Why 
did he not set out at once on his voyage of discovery? What had 



24 i:iCHOOL BISTORT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

been done by Prince Henry the Navigator? What of the visit of 
Columbus to Portugal? What mean act was committed by the 
king? What did Columbus do? Show his impoverished condition. 
How was he treated in Spain? What was one obstacle in the way 
of his success? What delayed the starting of the expedition? De- 
scribe the fleet. When did it sail? Where was the first stopping 
place? What frightened the sailors? How did Columbus prevent 
their mutiny? What convinced them at last that they were ap- 
proaching land? Describe the landing of Columbus. His return. 
How was he received? Describe his other voyages. State how 
America came to receive its name. Describe the voyage of John 
Cabot; of Sebastian Cabot. 

CHAPTER II. 
SPANISH EXPLORATIONS. 

The First Circumnavigation of the Globe — In 1519, 
Ferdinand Magellan, a Spaniard, sailed along the eastern 
coast of South America to the strait named in his honor, 
passed through it and entered upon the vast Pacific, which 
received its name from him. Doubling the Cape of Good 
Hope, after the death of Magellan, and the loss of several of 
his ships, one vessel reached Spain, after an absence of 
about two years. This was the first circumnavigation of 
the globe, and proved that Columbus had discovered a new 
world, instead of the eastern coast of Asia. 

Discovery of the Pacific Ocean — Although the Pa- 
cific ocean received its name from Magellan, it had been dis- 
covered several years before his memorable vayage. Vasco 
Nunez de Balboa (vas'co nooii'yeth da bal-bo'ah), a lawless 
Spanish navigator, was attached to a vessel which was 
wrecked on the coast of Darien. Balboa led the crew 
through many perils to an Indian village, thus saving them 
from starvation. A native told the adventurers tliat six 
days' travel to the westward lay another immense sea, be- 
yond which was a country abounding with gold. The pros- 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 25 

pect of obtaining the precious metal caused the Spaniards 
to push eagerly into the interior. In the month of Septem- 
ber, 15 13, they reached the base of a high mountain, from 
the top of which their Indian guide told them the great sea 
could be seen. Balboa ordered his men to wait while he 
climbed to the summit alone. At the top he knelt down to 
thank God, and beckoned to his followers to join him, and 
gaze on the great Pacific ocean. 

This discovery led to the conquest of Mexico and Peru 
and the colonization of the western coast of our country. 
In the Southwest many evidences still exist of the visits of 
the Spaniards during the first half of the sixteenth century. 
In the city of Santa Fe (fa), New Mexico, stands an adobe 
(a-do'ba) building, that is, one made of sun-dried bricks, 
which was erected in 1542. 

Discovery of Florida In 1512, Ponce de Leon (pon' 

tha da la-6n'), who was with Columl)us on his second voy- 
age, heard of a wonderful land, north of Cuba, where there 
was a spring whose waters would make a person young 
again. He set out in search of the land, and discovered it 
on Easter Sunday, 15 13. He did not find the fountain of 
eternal youth, and was killed by Indians, in 1521, while try- 
ing to form a settlement at some unknown point in Florida. 

De Narvaez Expedition. — In 1528, Pamphilo de Nar- 
vaez (pam'fee-lo da nar-va'eth), with four ships and a brig- 
antine, 400 men and aibout 100 horses, landed near Tampa 
Bay, in Florida, and made preparations to march into the 
interior. Their cruelty to the Indians caused the ruin of 
the expedition. The natives fought them at every step, and 
they were finally forced to return to the seacoast. There 
they managed to construct a number of boats, in which they 
embarked for Mexico. They were wrecked and driven on 
the coast, where the Indians made prisoners of the sur- 
vivors. At last, only four miserable beings were left. 



26 SCHOOL BISTORT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

These gradually wc)rkecl their way through Texas and 
Sonora to California, where they were cared for by their 
countrymen. 

De Soto's Expedition Hernando de Soto sailed from 

Spain in 1538 with an expedition consisting of nine vessels 
and nearly a thousand men, among whom were a number of 
priests and mechanics. They took with them several hun- 
dred horses, many hogs, and a score of trained blood- 
hounds. This expedition landed at Tampa Bay, May 18, 
1539. Its experience was similar to that of Narvaez. The 
men suffered from the hostility of the Indians, and were 
often reduced to the verge of starvation. When they 
reached the point where Narvaez had turned back, they 
asked De Soto to do the same, but he refused. 

Like all his predecessors, De Soto and his party looked 
upon the Indians as only fit to be shot down and killed in 
cold blood. The most cruel outrages were inflicted upon 
the natives, who made the explorers pay dearly for their 
wickedness. At Mavila, from which the name of the city 
and bay of Mobile is taken, De Soto massacred more than 
2000 Indians, his own loss being considerable. In the 
spring and summer of 1541, the explorers wound their way 
across the present State of Mississippi and thus discovered 
the Father of Waters. 

The precise course taken by De Soto is not known. No 
doubt he reached the site of Little Rock, in Arkansas. Dur- 
ing the three years of wandering the expedition lost one- 
third of its number and nearly all its property. Finally, De 
Soto became disheartened, and, in the spring of 1542, turned 
about and started for the sea. He was worn out by suffer- 
ing and hardship, and one day lay down, knowing he would 
never rise again. Calling his men around him, he begged 
their forgiveness for any wrong he had done them, bade 
them good-bye, and died. This was May 21, 1542. 



SCHOOL HIHTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 27 

De Soto had made the ignorant natives beheve he could 
never die. His survivors were afraid that if the Indians 
learned the truth they would fall upon and massacre all the 
rest. So they kept his death a secret. Late at night the 
body was placed in a boat, which was silently rowed out on 
the river. The 'blanket wrapped about it was heavily 
weighted before it was lifted over the gunwale. It instantly 
sank out of sight. Thus the man who discovered the Mis- 
sissippi found his grave in it. 

The expedition, left without its head, went to pieces. 
Building a number of brigantines, the men spent nearly 
three weeks floating down the river and continually fight- 
ing with the Indians. In July, 1543, the remnant reached 
the mouth of the Mississippi. Cruising along the coast of 
Louisiana and Texas, they at last found a colony of their 
countrymen, where they received the care which all sorely 
needed. 

Other Discoveries and Explorations Cortez, the 

Spanish general, who conquered Mexico while Magellan 
was circumnavigating the world, established settlements 
from whence went out exploring expeditions, under 
Corando and others, which reached California and explored 
the Pacific coast as far north as Oregon. 

In 1528 Cabeza de Vaca and three companions, who sur- 
vived an unsuccessful attempt to explore Florida, accom- 
plished the great feat of passing through the heart of what 
is now the great empire state of Texas, from the Gulf of 
Mexico to its northwestern boundary. Losing their ships 
off of the coast of Florida and building rude boats, they 
row^ed along the gulf coast, landed near Galveston, and 
passed up through Texas towards the Pacific coast until 
they met Spanish soldiers, who conducted them to the City 
of Mexico. 

Pedro Menendez (nia-nen' deth), a cruel and fanatical 




OLD CITV GATE, ST. AUGUSTINE, FLA. 
OLDEST HOUSE IN THE UNITED STATES, SANTA ffi, NEW MEXICO. 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 29 

Spaniard, with an expedition numbering 1500 men, arrived 
off the mouth of the St. John's, in Florida. There he saw 
the ships of Ribault (re bo') carrying the flag of France. 
He attacked them late that night and drove most of them to 
sea. The others, being at the mouth of the river, Menendez 
could not land. He, therefore, went back to the fine harbor 
which he had discovered, and began the town of St. Augus- 
tine (1565). This is the oldest European settlement in the 
United States. 

Other Spanish settlements were made at Ysleta, on the 
Rio Grande (which is claimed by some to have ante-dated 
the settlement at St. Augustine), and at Santa Fe, in New 
Mexico, before the close of the sixteenth century. 

The discoveries of Columbus, the grant of the Pope, and 
the explorations of De Leon, De Soto, Corando, and other 
Spanish explorers gave some color, as rights were then 
understood, to the claim of Spain to the whole American 
Continent except Brazil, which, she admitted, belonged to 
Portugal. 

Questions. — Describe the first circumnavigation of the globe. 
Give the particulars of the discovery of the Pacific ocean. Describe 
Ponce de Leon's visit to Florida. What can you tell about the 
expedition of De Narvaez? What of De Soto's expedition? Tell 
how the Mississippi was discovered. What of the explorations of 
Corando, and others? What of the founding of St. Augustine? 
Other Spanish settlements? 



CHAPTER HI. 

FRENCH EXPLORATIONS. 

Verrazani's Expedition Although Spain today is 

but a second-rate power, she was the most important mari- 
time nation at the time of the discovery of America, and for 
years afterwards. There was a strong rivalry between her 



30 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

and France. In 1524, France sent out a fleet of four ves- 
sels, under the connnand of Verrazani (za'ni), who, hke Co- 
lumbus, was a native of Italy. Two months later, with but 
a single ship left, he reached the mainland of America. His 
account of his voyage is so vague that it is uncertain what 
portions of the country he saw. It is claimed that he first 
sighted the shore of North Carolina, and, coasting north- 
ward, entered the bay of New York, and continued up the 
New England coast. He gave the name of •' New France " 
to the countries which he visited. Verrazani is claimed to 
have been the first navigator who gained a correct idea of 
the size of the globe. 

Cartier In the spring of 1534, Jacques Cartier (kar- 

tya'), a skillful navigator, sailed from France with two ships, 
carrying crews of sixty-one men. He entered the mouth of 
the St. Lawrence. The shores of Newfoundland looked so 
desolate that he expressed the belief that it was the land to 
which God had banished Cain. He took possession of the 
country, however, in the name of France, and returned 
home after an absence of only five months. 

Cartier was sent out with another expedition the follow- 
ing spring. This time he had three ships, and anchored in 
the mouth of the St. Lawrence, on the loth of August, 1535. 
Leisurely ascending the river, he anchored ofif the site of 
Quebec. The Indians treated him kindly, and told him of 
another town, further up the river. He sailed thither, and 
passed the winter there. The city of Montreal stands near 
the spot. Carticr's attempts to found a colony were fail- 
ures, but his discovery gave France a claim to the immense 
region which she held for more than a hundred years. 

Ribault. — Having failed to plant colonies in the north, 
France now directed her efforts toward settling the south. 
In February, 1562, Captain John Ribault sailed from Havre 
with two ships. He was sent out by Lord Admiral Coligny, 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 31 

leader of the Huguenots, who were so much persecuted in 
France that they sought a home in the New World. Florida 
was sighted on the last day of April. Coasting northward, 
he entered the mouth of the St. John. The Indians showed 
marked friendship, and the visitors were charmed with the 
country. Ribault took possession in the name of France, 
and continued northward, giving French names to the vari- 
ous rivers discovered. In the latter part of May, he 
dropped anchor in the fine harbor of Port Royal. There he 
decided to plant a settlement. 

The men were so pleased that all wished to stay. The 
leader, however, selected thirty and left them behind, while 
he sailed for France. The settlers set to work with ardor 
and built a strong fort on an island in Arclier's creek, about 
six miles from the present site of Beaufort.. Before long, 
they grew discontented and homesick. They quarreled 
among themselves, and finally rigged up a worthless boat, 
in which they set sail for France. When all were at the 
point of death, they were picked up by an English vessel, 
which carried the feeblest to France and took the others as 
prisoners to England. 

Laudonniere. — W'hen Rilxiult reached France, civil 
war was raging and it was impossible for him to return. In 
April, 1564, Admiral Coligny sent out three ships to repeat 
the attempts at colonization. They were under the com- 
mand of Captain Laudonniere (l6-d6 ne-er), who was a 
member of the former expedition. He picked out a spot, 
now known as St. John's BlufY, where he began building a 
fort. The Indians helped and did all they could to prove 
their good will. The fair prospects were soon blotted by 
the greed of the colonists. The men 'became dissatisfied 
with Laudonniere, who had to use harsh measures in self- 
defense. Some of the men stole two small vessels and 
started for the West Indies on a piratical expedition. Lau- 



32 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

donniere caused two larger vessels to be made ready in 
which to pursue them. Before the start could be made, 
other malcontents stole them and followed their compan- 
ions. The Spaniards captured three of the buccaneers, 
while the pilot of the fourth (who had been pressed into 
service) steered the vessel back to the colony before the 
pirates knew what he was doing. Laudonniere made them 
all prisoners and hanged the ringleaders. 

When ruin and destruction seemed inevitable, Ribault ar 
rived with seven ships and an abundance of supplies. This 
caused rejoicing, despite the misfortune and suffering al- 
ready undergone. But the most overwhelming disaster of 
all was at hand. 

It was at this juncture that the ferocious Menendez ap- 
peared with his powerful fleet and attacked the French 
ships. Three of the latter were up the river and the other 
four were no match for the Spaniards. They put to sea, 
and by superior sailing escaped. Ribault, learning that 
Menendez had landed men and supplies further south, pre- 
pared to attack them. A violent storm, however, scattered 
his vessels. 'By a forced march through swamps and a driv- 
ing tempest, Menendez descended upon the almost unpro- 
tected fort, which was completely surprised. The garrison, 
including the women and children, were massacred. 
Shortly after, when another force of French surrendered, 
they were also put to death. 

Menendez ferociously wrote above the remains of the 
victims he had butchered : " Not as to Frenchmen, but as to 
heretics." A heroic Frenchman named Gourgues resolved 
to avenge this massacre of his countrymen, and secretly 
fitted out, at his own expense, an expedition, which sailed 
for Florida, captured a Spanish fort located near the former 
French settlement, hung the garrison to trees, and left 
above them this inscription : " Not as to Spaniards, but as 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 33 

to murderers." Not being strong enough to attack St. 
Augustine, Gourgues did not await an attack from there, 
but returned to France. 

Champlain. — Samuel de Champlain (sham-plane') now 
became the leading figure in French exploration. Leaving 
the banks of the St. Lawrence, at the beginning of the 
seventeenth century, he discovered the lake named in his 
honor. His maps and accounts added greatly to the knowl- 
edge of the country. He joined De Monts (mong) and 
founded the colony of Port Royal, in Nova Scotia, in 1605. 
This settlement, now known as Annapolis, was the first per- 
manent French colony planted in America. Champlain 
founded Quebec in 1608. 

La Salle — The greatest of all French explorers was 
Cavalier La Salle (lah sal'). When he first came to Canada, 
in 1666, he was hardly twenty-three years old. He was a 
horn explorer, and soon started on an expedition westward. 
In the country of the Seneca Indians he fell ill, and was 
obliged to part from his companions, near the head of Lake 
Ontario. He soon recovered and set out again. He made 
his way to the Ohio river, down which he descended to the 
falls opposite Louisville. Upon his return to France, he 
was made a nobleman and appointed governor of the coun- 
try around Fort Frontenac, which he had built on the shore 
of Lake Ontario. Fie replaced the building with a much 
stronger one, and soon had four small vessels on the lake 
and a thriving trade with the Indians. 

In the month of August, 1679, La Salle launched, at the 
port of Niagara, a small vessel, which he named the Griffcn. 
In this he and his crew sailed the length of Lake Erie and 
then across Lakes St. Clair, Fluron and Michigan to Green 
Bay. There he sent back the Griffcn for supplies and 
crossed the lake in canoes to the mouth of the St. Joseph, 
where he built a fort. Flis next visit was to the Indian vil- 



34 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

lages of the Illinois country, where he made treaties with 
the red men. In 1680, he built a fort near the present site 
of Peoria. Sending Father Hennepin to visit the country 
to the northward, La Salle made the entire journey on foot 
and alone to Fort Frontenac, hundreds of miles distant. 
There he learned that the GrifTcn was lost. On his return 
with a new party to the fort planted near Erie, he found it 
had been broken up by the Indians, and all the white men 
were gone. He made his way to the mouth of the Missis- 
sippi, where he set up a column with the French arms, and 
claimed the country for his king. He named the territory 
Louisiana, in honor of Louis XIV, king of France. 

La Salle found himself in high favor when he once more 
visited France. His proposal to conquer the rich mining 
country in the Southwest was accepted by the king, who 
made him commandant of the countr3^ His expedition 
consisted of four ships and nearly 300 persons. They were 
worthless fellows, however, and the naval officer in com- 
mand had no friendship for La Salle. The two quarreled 
and there was much wrangling among the others. The 
ships passed the mouth of the Mississippi for a considerable 
distance 'before La Salle discovered the mistake. When he 
appealed to the naval commander to return, he refused, and 
the vessel anchored ofif Matagorda Bay. Then the officer 
declared he must go after supplies, and, sailing away, left 
La Salle with one small vessel, which had been presented to 
him by the king. 

La Salle built a fort and began cultivating the soil. The 
Indians were hostile, and killed a number of the men. 
Others died from disease, until only forty were left alive. 
With a few companions, La Salle started for the Illinois 
country. He had not penetrated far, however, when the 
miscreants who were with him treacherously shot him to 
death (1687). The survivors were made prisoners by the 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 35 

Spanish, who had been sent to that part of the country to 
drive out the French. 

Extent of French Explorations and Claims. — Jesuit 
missionaries and French traders were heroic and untiring 
in their explorations and attempts at settlements in the 
regions of the great lakes, and down the Mississippi Valley, 
and to this day French names abound in that whole terri- 
tory. They had a string of rude settlements from New- 
foundland to Texas, at Biloxi, at Mobile, and at New 
Orleans (in i/iS). " New France" had in 1688 a popula- 
tion of 11,000, and France claimed a large slice of America 
extending from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Lake Siiperior, 
and thence down the Mississippi Valley from the source to 
the mouth of the great river, and along its chief tributaries. 

Questions. — Give an account of Verrazani's expedition. De- 
scribe Cartier's expedition. Give an account of Ribault's expedi- 
tion. Give an account of the doings of Menendez. What of 
Champlain? What is said of La Salle? Extent of French explora- 
tions, and territory claimed by France? 

CHAPTER IV. 
ENGLISH AND DUTCH EXPLORATIONS. 

Frobisher. — In 1576, Martin Frobisher sailed with 
three small vessels in quest of the elusive western passage. 
He tried it three times, on one of his voyages entering the 
strait named for him. He believed Cumberland Island to 
be a part of the mainland of Asia. The result of his voyages 
was unimportant, for the regions visited are practically 
valueless to the world. 

Sir Humphrey Gilbert Sir Humphrey Gilbert sailed 

for America in charge of an important expedition in June, 
1583. With every prospect of high success, the enterprise 
was marked by the most tragic disaster. He had hardly 



36 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

set sail when his largest vessel deserted and went back 
home. The men were unprincipled, and became mutinous. 
At Newfoundland, Gilbert had to send home one of his four 
vessels with the sick and most of the rebellious members of 
his crews. In a tempest, the largest of his three remaining 
vessels was wrecked and all, except fifteen, were drowned. 
The smallest boat, in which Sir Humphrey took passage, 
foundered at sea in a storm and went down with all on 
board. 

Sir Walter Raleigh Sir Walter Raleigh was a half- 
brother of Gilbert and a favorite at the court of Queen 
Elizabeth. He v/as much impressed by the views of his 
relative, and did his utmost to carry them out. He sent out 
two well-manned vessels in April, 1584, to find the best 
place for a colony. They carried back such a glowing re- 
port that Raleigh was knighted and allowed to name the 
new country Virginia, in honor of the virgin Queen Eliza- 
beth. 

In the spring of 1585, a large and well-equipped expedi- 
tion sailed for the new country. A fort was built on Roa- 
noke Island, but troubles with the Indians were continuous 
from the first, and the settlers gave their whole attention to 
the search for gold. They would have perished but for the 
timely arrival of Sir Francis Drake, who took them back to 
England. It was at this time that the Englishmen learned 
the use of tobacco from the Indians and introduced it into 
England. Sir Walter Raleigh became fond of -it. The story 
is related of one of his servants, who, seeing his master 
smoking a pipe, thought he was on fire, and in great alarm 
dashed water over him to put out the flames. 

In 1587, Raleigh sent out another colony of 150 men and 
women. They were under charge of John White, and quar- 
reled continually. While halting at Roanoke, the daughter 
of Governor White, the wife of Ananias Dare, had a daugh- 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 37 

tcr born to her. She was named Virginia, and was the first 
child of EngHsh parentage born within the present territory 
of the United States. Governor White sailed for England 
for help, but owing to troubles in that country, was unable 
to return to America for three years. When he did so, to 
his dismay he could not find any member of the colony he 
had left behind. He found the word CROATAN cut in 
the bark of a tree, but no trace of any living person. Sir 
Walter Raleigh sent several expeditions to clear up the 
mystery, but none succeeded. Years afterward evidence 
came to light that left little doubt that nearly every one of 
the settlers had been massacred by the Indians. For ten or 
fifteen years the English explorers continued to visit por- 
tions of the New England coast, but no serious attempts at 
settlement were made. 

Henry Hudson — • Holland was one of the leading mari- 
time nations, but for a time showed little interest in the New 
World. She seemed to be content to let others scramble 
for possessions on this side of the Atlantic. A company of 
English merchants, at the beginning of the seventeenth 
century sent out Henry Hudson, an English sailor, in quest 
of a northwest passage. His crew consisted of only eleven 
men, among whom was his son. He plowed his way 
through the icefields along the eastern coast of Greenland 
until past the 8oth degree of latitude. This was farther 
north than any one had ever gone before. The enormous 
masses of ice blocked further passage, and he was forced to 
turn back. A second attempt failed the following year, and 
the English merchants declined any more expense in what 
certainly was a useless effort. 

Hudson was so skillful a navigator that his services were 
sought by the Dutch East India Company. They fitted out 
a small vessel for him, called the Half Moon, and instructed 
him to sail to the northeast instead of the northwest. He 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 39 

did as directed, but the icebergs compelled him to disobey 
his orders and to turn to tlie west. When he sighted Cape 
Cod, he called it New Holland, not knowing that it had 
been named 'before by Champlain. Reaching Chesapeake 
Bay, he learned that a company of English settlers were 
ahead of him, and he turned northward. He entered Dela- 
ware Bay, but the water was too shallow to please him, and 
he steered northward. September 3, 1609, he dropped 
anchor opposite Sandy Hook. 

For ten days the Half Moon continued sailing up the 
beautiful Hudson, the navigator and his crew delighted wirh 
the scenery. The Indians, from the wooded shores, gazed 
at them with the same feeling of wonder that stirred the 
natives when they first looked upon the caravels of Colum- 
bus. The Half Moon ascended to the present site of Al- 
bany, and then, descending the river, sailed to Dartmouth, 
England, whence Hudson sent an account of his discovery 
to Holland. That country at once claimed sovereignty 
over the new territories thus opened to them, a claim which 
no other nation could dispute. 

The discovery added to the fame of Hudson, and he was 
once more sent in search of the northwest passage. He en- 
tered the bay and strait named in his honor, and spent a 
winter in those dismal regions. His crew mutinied in the 
spring, and sent him and his son and a number of others 
adrift in an open boat. Thus they perished. 

Other Explorers. — Sir Francis Drake was a bold and 
enterprising explorer. He first saw the Pacific ocean from 
a tall tree on the Isthmus of Darien, and afterwards sailed 
through the Strait of Magellan, explored the shores of the 
Pacific as far as Oregon, sailed westward and returned 
home by way of the Cape of Good Hope. 

He was the first Englishman to sail on the Pacific, and 
the second European to circumnavigate the globe. The 



40 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

sworn enemy of Spain, he captured many of her richest 
ships, and raised the flag of Britain at many points claimed 
by Spain. 

Sir John Hazvkiiis was a famous navigator and slave 
trader, and won great favor at court by making Queen 
Elizabeth a partner in his large profits on the slaves he 
brought from Africa, and sold wherever he found the best 
market. 

Bartholomciv Gosnold sailed along the coast of New Eng- 
land in 1602, and attempted a settlement near Cape Cod, 
but his crew mutinied, he was forced to return to England, 
and there his ship was seized by Sir Walter Raleigh, who 
claimed that Gosnold had " infringed on his patent " 
granted him by the queen, and covering all of the territory 
he had named " Virgiiiia.'" 

The Szvcdcs explored the coast of Delaware, made a set- 
tlement in 1638 near Wilmington, and claimed the territory 
of the present limits of the State of Delaware and the south- 
ern half of New Jersey, the whole of which they called 
" New Sweden." 

Questions. — Tell of the expedition of Frobisher. What is said 
of Sir Humphrey Gilbert? Who was Sir Walter Raleigh? What 
did he do? Tell of the lost colony. Describe Henry Hudson's 
attempts to find a northwest passage. What of the Dutch East 
India Company? Describe the.,*oyage of the Half Moon. Tell of 
other explorers. 



CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY OF EVENTS. 

A. D. PAGE. 

1000. Leif the Lucky landed at Newfoundland and coasted along 

New England 14 

1492. Columbus discovered America. October 12 20 

1497. Amerigo Vespucci probably discovered the continent of 

America 22 

1498. The Cabots explored the Atlantic coast 23 



SCHOOL BISTORT OF THE UXITED STATES. 41 

A. D. PAGE. 

1498. Columbus discovered South America 22 

1506. Columbus died, May 20 22 

15 12. Ponce de Leon discovered Florida, March 27 25 

1513. Balboa discovered the Pacific ocean, September 26 24 

1519-1520. One of Magellan's ships circumnavigated the globe. . 24 

1528. Narvaez explored a part of the cost of North America. ... 25 

1535- Cartier ascended the St. Lawrence 30 

1541. De Soto discovered the Mississippi ?6 

1562. Ribault planted a Huguenot colony at Port Royal 30 

1564. Laudonniere attempted to plant a Huguenot colony on St. 

John river 31 

1565. St. Augustine founded by the Spaniards 29 

1583. Sir Humphrey Gilbert failed to plant a colony in America. 35 

1584. Sir Walter Raleigh sent out his first expedition '36 

1605. Port Royal, Nova Scotia, founded by Champlain and De 

Monts 23 

1608. Champlain founded Quebec ^3 

1609. Henry Hudson discovered the Hudson river 27 

1673-1687. La Salle made several expeditions through interior 

America 33 



42 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



PART II. 

Settlement and Growth (1607-1763). 

CHAPTER V. 
SETTLEMENT OF VIRGINIA. 

Founding of Jamestown — We have learned that St. 
Augustine, founded by the Spaniards in 1565, is the oldest 
town in the United States. The part which it has played 
in our history, however, has been of little moment. Eng- 
land is our " mother country," and the impress received 
from her is far beyond that of all other nations connbincd. 
In 1606, James I, who was then on the throne of England, 
gave to a number of gentlemen all that part of America 
lying between the thirty-fourth and thirty-eighth parallels of 
latitude, which received the name of Virginia. The writing 
which conveyed this land was called a patent or charter. 
The Englishmen to whom the patent was granted were 
known as " Ihc London Company.'"' They sent out three ves- 
sels, which carried 105 men, but no women or children. 

When the vessels entered the mouth of a broad, smooth 
river, they named it James, in honor of the k-ing. It was 
the month of May. The sky was bright and the air soft 
and balmy. On the shores, brilliant with fragrant flowers, 
the wondering Indians gazed in surprise and terror at the 
ships. To the wearied pioneers the fifty miles' sail up the 
James was the most delightful they had ever known. 

A landing was made May 23, 1607. and the first per- 
manent English settlement in America begun. It was 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 43 

named Jamestown, also in honor of the king who had given 
them the land. Everything promised well, and the settlers 
were in high spirits. But trouble soon came. Pioneers in 
a new country always have a hard time. The change of 
surroundings, the different modes of living, and the disap- 
pointments bring hardships and sufferings. Instead of till- 
ing the ground, the settlers spent most of their time in 
hunting for gold, which they believed abounded all around 
them. 

Such a course was sure to bring disaster. The provi- 
sions gave out, sickness came, until at last all were in des- 
pair. The men at the head of affairs were weak, and 
nearly every one longed to go back to England. When 
matters were as bad as they could be, the people elected 
Captain John Smith, one of their number, president or ruler. 

Captain John Smith — This man had lived the life of 
an adventurer in different parts of the world, and had shown 
great personal courage, powers of endurance, and real abil- 
ity. He was brave, strong, and took the right course with 
the colonists. He made a rule that no man should eat who 
did not work. He set the example, and matters began to 
mend. 

Captain Smith, with a number of companions, sailed up 
many of the streams which flow into Chesapeake Bay. The 
people were in sore need of food, and Smith took the right 
course to get it. He treated the Indians kindly, and gave 
them many presents. The red men were delighted, and in 
turn let him have many bushels of corn, which were divided 
among the starving settlers. 

On an expedition up the James, ostensibly to find a pas- 
sage through to the western ocean, but really to explore the 
country and seek adventure, Smith was captured near the 
present site of Richmond by the Indians, carried before 
Chief Opecancanough, and was about to be put to death 



44 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

when he excited the interest and wonder of the Indians by 
exhibiting a small pocket compass. This saved his life for 
the time, and he was carried before Powhatan, a sort of 
emperor, who reigned over the country from the falls of the 
James to the present county of Gloucester. Powhatan had 
a seat near the present site of Richmond, and his " chief 
place of council " at Werowocomoco, on Fork river in 
Gloucester, about twenty-five miles below the present West 
Point, and it was most probably to the latter that Smith was 
carried. 

He was kindly treated at first, but his death had been de- 
cided on, and they were about to execute the sentence by 
placing his head on a stone in front of Powhatan, and rais- 
ing clubs to beat out his brains, when Pocahontas, the 
favorite daughter of Powhatan, interposed and saved liim 
by taking his head in her arms and interceding with her 
father for his life. Her request was granted, Smith found 
great favor with Powhatan, and remained with him until 
early the next January (1608), when he was allowed to 
return, under escort, to Jamestown. 

Here he found great confusion and a conspiracy of Rat- 
clif^e, Wingfield and others to return to England on one 
of the vessels, which they had seized. He put down the 
conspirators with a strong hand, and was devising means of 
saving the colony from starvation, when Pocahontas came 
at the head of a large band of Indians, bearing corn and 
venison. This she repeated again and again, -as the neces- 
sities of the colony demanded, and she was called by them 
" the dear and blessed Pocahontas." 

Captain Smith was elected president by the people — the 
iir€t instance in American history where the people chose their 
oivn rnler, and for nearly two years served with great ability, 
firmness, and success. Indeed, he has been justly called 
the saviour of the Virginia colony. But he was, unfortu- 



ISCHOOL HIHTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 45 

natcly, so badly injured by the premature explosion of gun- 
powder that he was obliged to go to England for medical 
treatment, and never returned to Virginia, though he after- 
wards made several voyages to the northern coast and gave 
its name to Nczv England. He died in England in 1631. 

" The Starving Time." — The settlers suffered mo'-e 
than ever after Captain Smith left them. At the end of six 
months only sixty were left alive out of nearly 500. Some 
had been killed 'by Indians, but most of them died from dis- 
ease and famine. The winter of 1609-10 is known in history 
as the " Starving Time." The few that lived were sure they 
too would die unless they could get back to England. 

So all the despairing settlers went on board one of the 
ships and started to cross the ocean. At the mouth of the 
river, however, they met a vessel loaded with supplies and 
emigrants, under charge of Lord Delaware, their new Gov- 
ernor. The pioneers willingly returned with their friends 
to Jamestown. By and by, other settlers came, and the 
colony prospered. 

The Third Charter. — The second charter, which was 
given to the London Company in 1609, did not work well, 
and a third one was granted in 161 2. This did away with 
the London Council and allowed the stockholders to man- 
age their affairs as they thought best. 

Pocahontas. — The daughter of Powhatan formed a 
strong friendship for the settlers, and she was a favorite 
with them. She often came to Jamestown, where all made 
her welcome. In 1613 she married John Rolfe, and was 
baptized as a Christian in the little log church at Jamestown. 
Some years later she visited England with her husband and 
was received by the king and many noted people. She died 
when about to sail for America, leaving an infant son. 
Some of the leading families in Virginia today are proud of 
their descent from Pocahontas. 



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SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 47 

The Great Charter The London Company granted 

a " Great Charter " to Virginia in 1618. This gave the set- 
tlers the right to help make their own laws. The first legis- 
lative body that ever met in this country was the House of 
Burgesses. It was called together by Governor Yeardley 
(yard'le), July 30, 1619, and was composed of delegates 
elected by the freemen of the colony. 

July 24th, 1621, the London Company issued a docu- 
ment, and sent it over by Governor Francis Wyatt, who 
succeeded Yeardley, which may be called tJie first zvritten 
constitution ever established in America or the world. It 
approved of the representative government already estab- 
lished, and provided that the General Assembly of Virginia 
should consist of a House of Burgesses elected by the peo- 
ple, and a Council appointed by the London Company. 
The laws made by this Assembly were to be approved by the 
London Company, but it was a great advance to allow 
the freemen of the colony to vote, and to elect members of 
the House of Burgesses. 

Introduction of African Slavery In August, 1619, a 

Dutch ship sailed up the James and offered for sale to the 
colonists twenty negro slaves whom the captain had pur- 
cliased from their cruel masters in Africa. At that time 
slavery was almost universal ; there was no question of the 
right to buy and hold slaves, and the colonists did not hesi- 
tate to buy these, as they could make them profitable in cul- 
tivating tobacco. Ships of old England, and of New Eng- 
land engaged in the slave trade, brought other slaves to 
Virginia and to the other colonies, and African Slavery be- 
came established from New England to Georgia. 

Later on, discovering its evils, the Virginia House of Bur- 
gesses, and the authorities of the Georgia colony made re- 
peated petitions to the Crown for the abolition of slavery ; 
but the interests of the slave traders of England, and New 
England prevailed and these petitions were refused. 



48 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

In the original draft of the Declaration of Independence 
one of the counts in the indictment which Jefferson drew 
against England was that she liad forced African slavery 
upon the colonics, but this clause was left out in deference 
to New England, as she had a share in the transaction. 
And we will see further on that when the Constitution of 
1787 was adopted the Slave Trade was perpetuated twenty 
\'ears by the solid vote of New England (whose ships were 
now monopolizing the lucrative traffic), and against the 
earnest protests and votes of Virginia, Maryland and Dela- 
ware — North Carolina being opposed to the traffic, but 
agreeing to its extension for twenty years as a couiprouiisc 
for New England's proposition in favor of indefinite exten- 
sion. 

Wars with the Indians. —Powhatan, the father of Poca- 
hontas, was a true friend of the settlers as long as he lived. 
When he died his brother became chief, but he was deposed 
quickly by Opecancanough, who laid his plans to kill all 
the whites. The attack of his warriors, March 22, 1622, 
was so sudden that 400 people were killed in one day. In 
the war that followed, 4000 settlers were reduced to half 
that number, and the eighty settlements or plantations were 
all destroyed with the exception of eight. 

Virginia a Royal Province King James did not like 

the way the London Company ruled. So he took away 
their charter and granted a new one in 1624. The settlers 
had still the right to elect the members of the Plouse of 
Burgesses, but the king appointed the Council and their 
Governor. Virginia remained a royal province until the 
Revolution. 

Prosperity. — The colony prospered. The white men 
were quick to learn the value of tobacco, and raised a great 
deal of it. Large quantities were sent to England, where it 
gained favor. For a long time Virginia gave more atten- 
tion to the cultivation of the weed than to anything else. 



SCnoOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 49 

The plantations lined the James for more than a hundred 
miles. A number of good women came over from England, 
and the colonists gladly paid lOO or 150 pounds of tobacco 
for a wife, that being the cost of their passage. 

The "Old Dominion." — The colony had continued to 
grow and prosper until in 1648 there were ten ships that 
traded with them regularly from London, two from Bristol, 
twelve from Holland and seven from New England, while 
the population had reached 20,000. Virginia remained true 
to Charles I and the monarchy during the Civil War that 
resulted in beheading the king; and true, also, to Charles II 
while he was an outlaw and fugitive. He sent from his 
court at Breda, in the Netherlands, a new commission to 
Governor Berkeley, and an expression of his gratitude for 
the loyalty shown 'by Virginia. 

During the Civil War in England and under " The Com- 
monwealth " of Cromwell, large numbers of the best fami- 
lies among the Royalists — the ancestors of Washington, 
Jefferson, Patrick Henry, the Randolphs, the Lees, the 
Carters, and others — emigrated to Virginia, where they 
were received with open arms by Governor Berkeley and the 
planters generally. Virginia's loyalty to the king at this 
time is said to have won for her the name " Old Dominion." 

Cromwell was not disposed to be harsh towards Virginia, 
but he could not be expected to tolerate her position, and, 
in 165 1, Captain Dennis sailed up the James with what was 
supposed to be an ample force to reduce the colony to sub- 
jection. Berkeley prepared a small but efficient force to 
make stout resistance ; a number of Dutch ships which were 
lying in the river joined him, and the array was so formid- 
able that Dennis halted and began negotiations. These 
were in the highest degree favorable to the colony, her cher- 
ished freedom was secured, and Virginia went on her way 
growing and prospering. 



50 SCHOOL IJISTOIiY OF THE UNITED t^TATES. 

Sir William Berkeley retired to his plantations, where he 
remained unmolested, and the General x^ssemblies elected as 
Governors, Richard Bennett in 1653, Edward Digges in 
1656 and Samuel Matthews in 1658. On the death of Mat- 
thews, the General Assembly, by a decisive vote, March 13, 
1660, elected as Governor again Sir William Berkeley, who 
quietly accepted the office ; and, when on the 29th day of 
April of that year, Charles II ascended the throne of Eng- 
land, Virginia was prepared, without confusion or tumult, 
to resume her old place of loyalty to the crown. 

Bacon's Rebellion Sir William Berkeley, the Gov- 
ernor, was a tyrant. He would not protect the settlers from 
the Indians, and did so many cruel things that the people, in 
1676, under the leadership of Nathaniel Bacon, rose in re- 
bellion against him. During the civil war which followed, 
Jamestown was burned to the ground and was never re- 
built. Today only a few ruins show where the first English 
settlement in America stood. Bacon was brave, able, elo- 
quent and the idol of the people. His rebellion may be 
appropriately called the first guns of the Revolution. He 
died just as he reached success, and the rebellion ended. 
Governor Berkeley punished without mercy those that had 
taken part against him. The king lost his patience and 
called him back to England. Charles II said of Berkeley: 
" That old fool has hanged more men in that naked country 
than I have done here for the murder of my father." The 
governor who succeeded him was also a tyrant, but the 
colony continued to prosper. In 1650, Virginia had a 
population of 30,000, and traded largely with England, Hol- 
land and the New England colonies. 

Other Events in the Early Colonial History of Vir= 
ginia — -The "'Tobacco Rebellion," as it was called, being 
the revolt of the planters against the unjust laws con- 
cerning the handling and shipping of their tobacco — the 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 51 

expedition of Governor Spottswood and " the Knights of 
the Golde^n Horseshoe " to the valley of Virginia — the set- 
tlement of this beautiful region between the Blue Ridge 
and the Alleghanies by the sturdy Germans, and Scotch- 
Irish — the change of the capital of Virginia from James- 
town to Williamsburg — the establishment of William and 
Mary College — the rout of the pirates on Chesapeake Bay, 
and the killing of their famous leader " Blackbeard " — the 
esrablishment, by Governor Spottswood, of the first iron 
furnace in the State — and other events of interest, cannot 
be related in detail here, but for full accounts of them the 
pupil must be referred to some history of Virginia. 

Questions. — What grant was made to the London Company by 
King James? Describe the founding of Jamestown. What can 
you tell of Captain John Smith? Of "' Starving Time." The Third 
Charter? Pocahontas? What is said of the Great Charter? The 
first Representative Assembly? Tell how African slavery was in- 
troduced into this country. What is said of the wars with the 
Indians? Give the history of Virginia as a royal province. Origin 
of the name " Old Dominion." Describe Bacon's Rebellion. 

CHAPTER VI. 
SETTLEMENT OF NEW ENGLAND. 

Religious Persecution in England During the sev- 
enteenth century, England persecuted many of her people 
whose views were not those of the Established Church of 
that country. To escape these persecutions, a number of 
families removed to other countries. They were called Pil- 
grims, because they wandered away from home. They were 
so religious in their lives that they were known also as Puri- 
tans. 

Landing of the Pilgrims. — One hundred and two Pil- 
grims, who did not like Holland, whither they had fled, 
decided to go to the New World. They sailed in the May- 



52 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

fiozvcr, and after a long and rough passage reached the coast 
of New England. They landed at Plymouth, Massachu- 
setts, December 21, 1620, in the midst of a driving snow- 
storm. 

The Puritans were hardy and industrious. They had fled 
from persecution, and were ready to face every trial before 
them. They had a hard time from the first. The weather 
was so severe that half the people died before spring. Once 
there were only seven well persons in the colony. Among 
those who died was John Carver, the first Governor. 

Samoset and Massasoit. — One day an Indian walked 
out of the woods and called, as he came up to the settlers : 
" Welcome, Englishmen ! " The pleased colonists won- 
dered where he had learned to speak English. His name 
was Sam'o-set, and he had picked up a few words of our 
language from some fishermen on the coast of Maine. He 
was well treated, and soon after brought Mas'sa-soit to visit 
the white people. Massasoit was chief of the Wampanoags. 
He made a treaty of peace with the settlers which was not 
broken for fifty years. 

Canonicus The Narragansetts were a powerful tribe 

of Indians, not friendly to the whites. Ca-non'i-cus, their 
chief, thought he would frighten the colonists by a declara- 
tion of war. He sent to Governor Bradford a bundle of 
arrows wrapped about with a rattlesnake's skin. The Gov- 
ernor lost no time in filling the skin with powder and bullets 
and returning it. Canonicus knew what that meant, and 
decided to leave the white men alone. 

Prosperity. — The industry of the Pilgrims could not 
fail to bring good results, and after a time the settlers had 
corn to sell to the Indians. The Alayflowcr went back to 
England in 162 1, and tlie ship Fortiiiic arrived soon after, 
with thirty-five colonists. Others followed, and, though 
there was suffering at times, the colony prospered. In 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 53 

1630, Governor Winthrop, with 300 families, founded Bos- 
ton. Witliin the following ten years, Dorchester, Roxbury, 
Lynn and other towns were settled. 

Union of the Colonies. — ■ The Massachusetts Bay Col- 
ony was separate from the Plymouth Colony. The former 
was formed in 1628, and consisted of Salem and Charles- 
town. John Winthrop was the first governor. Between 
the years 1630 and 1640, 20,000 people settled in Massachu- 
setts. The two colonies united in 1692, under the name of 
Massachusetts. 

Religious Persecution. — The Pilgrims ought to have 
been the last persons in the world to molest those whose re- 
ligious views differed from theirs. They had fled from per- 
secution, but soon became more cruel than the English had 
been. They formed so strong a hatred to the meek Quak- 
ers that they fined, whipped, imprisoned, and banished 
many of them. When those that had been driven out of the 
colonv came back, the settlers put four of them to death. 

Banishment of Roger Williams. — Roger Williams 
preached so plainly and boldly that the Puritans, among 
whom he lived, could not bear it. He told them a person 
must answer to God alone for his belief, that government 
should have nothing to do w'ith a man's religious creed, 
that there should be no enforced attendance at church, and 
no penalties for failure to attend, and that they were cheat- 
ing the Indians by taking their lands without paying for 
them. The Puritans answered these arguments by ordering 
him to be sent back to England. W^illiams slipped away 
from them, liowever, and fled to the Narragansett Indians. 
These people gave him welcome, and he lived a long tiriie 
with them. He was a Baptist and the champion of perfect 
religious freedom to all. 

Mrs. Ann Hutchinson was, also, banished from the colony 
for proclaiming doctrines contrary to those of the Puritans. 



54 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The First American Slave Ship The first slave ship 

ever built in America, or sent out from her shores, was 
launched at Marblehead, Mass., in 1636, at a period when 
Virginia, and Georgia were petitioning the crown of Eng- 
land to abolish the slave trade, and two years later this ship 
brought to Massachusetts from the coast of Africa a cargo 
of negroes, for which a ready sale was found. This vessel 
was only the first of a fleet of New England slavers who 
sold negroes by the wholesale to every colony in the country 
until New England monopolized the lucrative slave trade in 
the English colonies, and boldly opposed the abolition of 
the slave trade in the convention of 1787, which framed the 
Federal Constitution. 

King Philip's War When the friendly Massasoit 

died, his son, known as King Philip, became chief. He was 
a bitter foe of the whites, and formed a plan to slay them all 
by uniting the New England tribes against them. At 
Swansea, on Sunday, June 24, 1675, while the settlers were 
on their way to church, the Indians attacked them and killed 
and wounded several. Then they hurried ofT to assail the 
settlements in the Connecticut Valley. 

The men flew to arms. They carried their guns to church 
and stacked them outside during the service. The sentinels 
paced to and fro on the guard against surprise, and man- 
aged now and then to hear a part of the words of the 
preacher or to catch the music of a hymn. More than once 
the sermon was stopped by the sudden attack of the Indians. 

The Swamp Fight. — The red men were fierce and 
cruel, and the settlers showed them no mercy. Learning 
that the Xarragansctts were about to join Philip, Josiah 
Winslow led 1500 men in the depth of winter against their 
stronghold in a swamp. In the fearful fight, 200 white men 
and 1000 Narragansetts were killed. 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 55 

Death of Philip King Philip was run down at last ni 

a swamp near his old home on Mount Hope, not far from 
Bristol, R. I. While trying to steal out of the swamp, he 
came upon a white soldier and an Indian. The former lev- 
eled his gun and pulled trigger, but it missed fire. The 
warrior aimed his musket and shot the chief dead. Some 
months later the war came to an end. 

Massachusetts as a Royal Province Massachusetts 

was made a royal province in 1684. The first Governor, 
Sir Edmund Andros, arrived two years later. He was very 
harsh and oppressive, but the people bore with him for three 
years. Then they learned that King James had been driven 
from his throne, and they threw Andros into jail (1689), and 
took up again their old form of government. In 1692, Sir 
William Phipps became governor of the province, which 
included Massachusetts, Maine and Nova Scotia. 

The Salem Witchcraft. — One of the strangest delu- 
sions ever known took possession of Salem in 1692. A be- 
lief in witchcraft became so general that everybody seemed 
to have taken leave of his senses. Nearly all the old women 
were suspected of being witches, and in many cases sus- 
picion meant death. Families were divided, and ministers 
and judges lost their wits. Matters reached such a pass 
that no one could feel safe. The jails were crowded and the 
magistrates were kept busy punishing the accused persons. 
Twenty were put to death and fifty-five tortured before the 
craze passed away. Then the people awoke to a sense of 
their sin and folly, and the delusion came to an end. 

Settlement of Connecticut. — The Dutch and the 
English claimed Connecticut. The former put up a fort on 
Connecticut river, but some Massachusetts traders settled 
at Windsor in 1631. Hartford was founded in 1635. 

Indian Troubles The Pequod Indians urged the 

Narragansett Indians to join them in driving the whites 



56 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

from their hunting-grounds. The Narragansetts would 
have done this but for Roger WilHams. You remember 
that he was hving among the Narragansetts. He pleaded 
with their chiefs not to help the Pequods, and finally they 
refused to do so. Then the Pequods decided to go to war 
alone. It was an awful mistake. One morning in the 
summer of 1637 the settlers fell upon them in their strong- 
hold on the Mystic river and killed all the men, women and 
children. The whole tribe was blotted out in one day. 

The Charter Oak. — The New Haven and Connecticut 
colonies were very well suited with the charter given to 
them in 1662. Governor Andros, however, came down 
with some soldiers in 1687 from Boston and ordered the 
people to surrender the charter to him. He did this by 
command of the king, who thought the people had too 
much liberty. The assembly at Hartford pleaded that they 
might keep the charter. It grew dark while the argument 
was going on. Suddenly all the candles were blown out. 
When they were relighted, the charter, which had been 
lying on the table in the room, was gone. Captain Wads- 
worth had slipped out during the darkness and hidden it in 
the hollow of an oak. Andros was angered, and declared 
the charter government at an end. He went back to Bos- 
ton, but two years later he was turned out of office and the 
charter was brought from its hiding place. The Charter 
Oak was preserved with great care until 1856, when it was 
destroyed by a great storm. Connecticut was-' governed by 
the old charter until the Revolution. 

Settlement of Rhode Island. — Roger Williams made 
the first settlement in Rhode Island in 1636. He named the 
place Providence to show his gratitude to God. Settlers 
from Massachusetts soon joined him. All were treated 
kindly. No one was disturbed because of his religious 
belief, but perfect " soul-liberty " was guaranteed to all. 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 57 

Settlement of Maine and New Hampshire. — New 

Hampshire was first settled in 1623 at Little Harbor, near 
Portsmouth, and at Dover. The land between the Merri- 
mac and Kennebec rivers was granted to Mason and 
Gorges. The country west of the Fiscataqua was taken by 
Mason, who named it New Hampshire. Gorges, who 
owned the eastern section, called it Maine. 

The settlements were so weak that they placed them- 
selves under the care of Massachusetts. The union was 
broken and renewed three times. At last, in 1741, New 
Hampshire ^became a royal province and so remained until 
the Revolution. 

The people in Maine gave most of their time to hunting 
and fishing. They were afraid of the French that had set- 
tled near them. Massachusetts bought the region and kept 
it until 1820, when it became an independent State. 

Vermont. — The first settlement in Vermont was made 
near Brattleboro' in 1724. New York and New Hampshire 
each claimed the territory. The king, when appealed to, 
decided that it was a part of New York. 

A Great Revival of Religion. — This began in the 
church of the great thinker and preacher, Jonathan Ed- 
wards, and reached its climax in 1740 under the preaching 
of the marvellously eloquent " people's preacher," George 
Whitefield, who had so thrilled England, and now came to 
stir America. Nearly every town in New England was 
reached, there were large numbers of professions of conver- 
sion, the churches were greatly revived, and the subsequent 
religious condition of New England was greatly influenced 
by it. 

Questions. — What is said of religious persecution in England 
during tfie seventeenth century? Describe the voyage of the May- 
flower. What of the Puritans? Give an account of the prosperity 
of the colony. Of the founding of Boston. Give an account of 



S8 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

the Massachusetts Bay Colony. What do you know of Roger Wil- 
liams? The first American slave ship? What is said of King 
Philip? Give a history of the Salem witchcraft. Tell how Con- 
necticut was settled. Give a history of the Pequod war. Relate 
the anecdote of the Charter Oak. How was Rhode Island settled? 
Give the account of the settlement of Maine, New Hampshire and 
Vermont. 

CHAPTER VII. 

SETTLEMENT OF NEW YORK, NEW JERSEY, DELA- 
WARE, AND PENNSYLVANIA. 

The First Settlement in New York. — It has already 
been shown that the discovery and ascent of the Hudson 
river in 1609 by Captain Henry Hudson, who was in the 
employ of the Dutch East India Company, gave Holland a 
claim to the territory which was first seen by that navigator. 
The report which he sent to Holland led a number of Dutch 
traders to go to New Netherland, as the territory was 
called. They formed a trading post on Manhattan Island 
in 1613, and another on the present site of Albany. The 
former was called New Amsterdam and the second Fort 
Orange. The Dutch traders bought a large number of 
valuable furs from the Indians. 

The settlements grew slowly. In 1626, Peter Min'u-it, 
the first governor, bought all of Manhattan Island from the 
red men for a lot of trinkets worth about $20. Peter Stuy- 
vesant (stive'sant) became Governor in 1646;; and was the 
aiblest of all the Dutch rulers, but he was unpopular because 
of his harshness. 

Capture of New Amsterdam by the British Eng- 
land claimed New Netherland because of the discovery of 
the Cabots. She, therefore, looked upon the Dutch as in- 
truders. In 1664, she sent a fleet to New Amsterdam and 
demanded its surrender. The demand threw Governor 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 59 

Stuyvesant into a towering rage. He stamped up and 
down the little town, with his wooden leg, swung his cane, 
berated the English, and called upon the citizens to keep 
out the insolent rascals. But the Dutchmen shook their 
heads. They were tired of Stuyvesant, and thought the 
English rule would be better than his. They refused to 
fight, and the wrathful Governor, unable to do all the fight- 
ing himself, was obliged to surrender. Accordingly, the 
English took peaceful possession. They changed the name 
of New Amsterdam to New York, and that of Fort Orange 
to Albany. In 1673, when England and Holland were at 
war, a Dutch fleet retook New York, but it was restored the 
next year to England. 

Civil War in New York New York suffered from 

the tyrannical rule of Andros. When news arrived that 
James H had been dethroned, the deputy of Governor An- 
dros fled from New York. An uprising followed, and Cap- 
tain Leisler (Its'ler) took charge of affairs. The new 
Governor sent Colonel Sloughter to New York, who de- 
manded the surrender of the fort held by Leisler. The 
latter refused, and he and his son-in-law Milborne were 
arrested, tried, and convicted of treason and hanged. 

Settlement of New Jersey New Jersey was included 

in New Netherland. The Dutch erected a trading post at 
Bergen about 1618. All of the present State of New Jersey 
was granted by the Duke of York to Lord Berkeley and Sir 
George Carteret. Carteret had been Governor of the island 
of Jersey in the English Channel, and gave its name to the 
new province. The first English settlement was made near 
Elizabethtown in 1664. 

In 1674, the province was divided into East and West Jer- 
sey. West Jersey, which belonged to Berkeley, was sold to 
a number of Quakers. Some of those people settled near 
Burlington. Carteret sold his rights to William Penn and 



L 



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--«X-*^-**^— "ji'=^'-''*^^s»*-» ?" ' — ^ 



PETER STUYVESANT APPEALING TO THE CITIZENS. 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Gl 



eleven other Quakers. These changes made much trouble 
over the ownership of land. Finally, in 1702, the proprie- 
tors gave up their rights to the English crown. New Jer- 
sey was united to New York and ruled by the same Gover- 
nor, (but had a separate Assembly. In 1738, New Jersey 
became a royal province, and remained so until the Revolu- 
tion. 

Settlement of Delaware ■ The first settlement in 

Delaware was made by the Swedes at Christiana, near Wil- 
mington, in 1638. They bought the land of the Indians, 
and called it New 
Sweden. Another set- 
tlement was planted be- 
low Philadelphia in 
1643, and was the first 
in what is now Pennsyl- 
vania. The Dutch cap- 
tured these settlements, 
and they prospered un- 
der their rulers. 

Settlement of Penn= 
sylvan ia. — William 
Penn, a Quaker, was the 
son of Admiral Penn, to 
whom the English gov- 
ernment owed a large 
sum of money for his 
services. Charles II 

Willi 1 II 

paid the claim by giving 

to the son a grant for that vast tract of land known as Penn- 
sylvania. The Duke of York added the present State of 
Delaware to the grant. 

William Penn was a good and wise man. Although the 
Quakers were persecuted in England, the king liked Penn. 




62 SCHOOL UWTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

It was the king who named the province Pennsylvania, 
against the wishes of the excellent Quaker. A good many 
of that sect were sent to America, and Penn himself came 
over in 1682. He bought the land of the Indians, after pay- 
ing the king for the same. The red men were treated so 
justly that the treaty of peace which they made was not 
broken for seventy years. 

Philadelphia. — The city of Philadelphia was laid out 
by Penn in 1683. Within a year it had a population of 
7000, and increased more in three years than New York did 
in half a century. At the request of the " three lower coun- 
ties," as Delaware was called, a separate government was 
given to them in 1703. They had their own Deputy Gover- 
nor, and Assembly, but were under one Governor until the 
Revolution. 

Mason and Dixon's Line After Penn's death in 

1718, his heirs appointed the governors until 1779. In that 
year the State of Pennsylvania bought their rights for about 
half a million dollars. The boundary between Maryland 
and Pennsylvania was fixed in 1767 by two surveyors, 
named Mason and Dixon. This has been known ever since 
as '' Mason and Dixon's line," and is regarded as the boun- 
dary between what had become the free, and what were the 
slave States of our country. 

Questions. — ^ What was the effect of the report sent to Holland 
by Henry Hudson? What trading posts were formed? Describe 
the capture of New Amsterdam by the British. Tell about New 
Jersey. What grant was made by the Duke of York? Tell about 
the settlement of Delaware. What of William Penn? How did 
he gain possession of the province of Pennsylvania? What is said 
of Philadelphia? Tell what is meant by Mason and Dixon's line. 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



63 



CHAPTER VIII. 

SETTLEMENT OF MARYLAND. THE CAROLINAS, AND 
GEORGIA. 

Settlement of Maryland The Roman Catholics suf- 
fered much persecution in England during the reign of 
Charles I. Cecil Cal- 
vert, or Lord Baltimore, 
was a rich nobleman of 
that faith, who secured a 
grant of the land north 
of the Potomac. His 
purpose w^as to give his 
brethren a refuge from 
persecution. Leonard 
Calvert, a brother of 
Cecil, made the first set- 
tlement in 1634 at St. 
Mary's, near the mouth 
of the Potomac. 

When the Catholics 
reached the province, 
however, they found 
that William Clayborne. 
of Virginia, had a trad- 
ing post there. They drove him out. and he went back to 
Virginia, which claimed that Maryland was a part of her 
grant, and the Catholics, therefore, were intruders. The 
king was appealed to. and decided in favor of Lord Balti- 
more. 

Clayborne returned to Maryland in 1645, stirred up a re- 
belHon, and compelled Calvert to flee. By and by, Calvert, 
in turn, expelled Clayborne and his followers. The Catho- 




64 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

lies established a liberal government. In 1649 they passed 
the " Toleration Act," which tolerated all in worshipping 
God as they chose. A great many persons in the other 
colonies, who were persecuted for conscience's sake, found 
shelter in Maryland. 

When the Protestants secured a majority in the assembly, 
they oppressed the Catholics. Civil war lasted for years. 
The rights as proprietor were taken away from Lord Balti- 
more in 1691, and Maryland became a royal province. In 
1 71 5, the fourth Lord Baltimore recovered his rights, and 
religious toleration was restored. Comparative peace 
reigned until the Revolution. 

North Carolina, — In 1629 Charles I granted to Sir 
Robert Heath all of the land between the present southern 
boundary of Virginia and the northern boundary of Florida. 
At the same time the Virginia Assembly asserted the claim 
of that colony to the northern half of North Carolina, and 
made grants of it to various parties, who effected in 1653 a 
settlement on the shores of Albemarle Sound. 

In 1663, a party of Englishmen from the West Indies 
located a settlement on Cape Fear river. 

In 1663, Charles II, with the reckless prodigality which 
characterized him, gave to the Earl of Clarendon, the Duke 
of Albemarle, and six other noblemen (among them Gov- 
ernor Berkeley of Virginia), the region formerly embraced 
in Heath's patent. For years after the grant. North and 
South Carolina were united under one government under 
the name " Carolina." 

"Locke's Republic." — In order to avoid giving any 
power to " the common people," the proprietors engaged 
the famous philosopher John Locke to write them a consti- 
tution, which they called the " Grand Model." 

This constitution made the oldest of the proprietors vir- 
tually a Czar, the others officers with high-sounding titles. 



SCUOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 65 

and to the citizens of the colony it gave empty titles with 
but little share in the government, while " the common 
people " were to be virtually slaves. 

The result of this absurd attempt at government was bit- 
ter and persistent opposition on the part of the people until, 
after a struggle of forty-five years, the proprietors were 
forced to abandon their " Grand Model," and allow the 
colony to be governed by the original charter of the king, 
and in 1729 they sold their rights to the king, and soon 
after this North and South Carolina became " royal " prov- 
inces under separate governments. 

Growth North Carolina's population rapidly increased 

by the coming of French Protestants, German Lutherans, 
Scotchmen, and North Ireland people, and the variety 
of her climate, soil, and products gave great prosperity to 
these industrious people. 

Charleston. — In 1670, William Sayle, the appointed 
Governor of the colony, brought from England a company, 
who settled near Port Royal, but the next year moved to 
the bank of the Ashley river, and thus begun the first per- 
manent English settlement witJiin the present limits of the 
State of South Carolina. This location was found incon- 
venient for the approach of large vessels, and ten years later 
the colony was moved to the present beautiful site of 
Charleston, named in honor of King Charles of England. 

Sir John Yeamans, who succeeded Governor Sayle on his 
death, in 1671, (brought with him from the Cape Fear settle- 
ment in North Carolina 200 negroes, who were the first 
imported into South Carolina. But the climate and pro- 
ductions of the colony were so favorable to negro labor that 
■ New England slave ships found a ready sale for their car- 
goes, and the negroes increased so rapidly that in 1734 they 
outnumbered the whites five to one. 



66 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

New Settlers. — In 1673, a large number of Dutch peo- 
ple from New York settled in South Carolina, and in 1686 
there came thousands of Huguenots from France, driven 
from their homes by the fact that Louis XIV had revoked, 
in 1685, the edict of Nantes, which Henry V had granted 
to secure toleration to his Protestant subjects. These 
Huguenots were the very best class of settlers — intelligent, 
industrious, moral, and religious — and made a very decided 
impress upon the colony, and the subsequent history of 
South Carolina. 

Trouble with the Spaniards and Indians During 

the war with Spain, which broke out in 1702, Governor 
Moore, of South Carolina, fought the Spaniards at St. 
Augustine, defeated the Appalachee Indians, and forced 
their submission to the colony, and in 1706 defeated a 
French and Spanish fleet in their attack on Charleston. 

In 171 1, Governor Moore sent a regiment of South Caro- 
lina militia, under Colonel John Barnwell, and several hun- 
dred friendly Indians, who, united with the North Carolina 
forces, gave' the Tuscarora and Cohec Indians so bloody a 
defeat that their chief Hancock surrendered, and promised 
peace. 

When after a short time he violated the terms of his sur- 
render, and opened hostilities again, Governor Moore him- 
self headed a body of fifty white men, and a thousand 
friendly Indians, and, uniting with the North Carolina 
forces, gave the Indians so bloody a defeat that 800 of them 
surrendered as prisoners, and their spirit was so broken 
that they marched north and united with the " Five 
Nations " in New York. 

In 171 5, South Carolina became involved in a war with 
the powerful Yemassee tribes of Indians, who had been 
hitherto friendly. The fight was bitterly fought, until in 
1716, with the aid of a regiment from North Carolina, and 



SCHOOL HhSTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 67 

one hundred men from \irginia, the Indians were defeated, 
and driven beyond the Savannah. 

Rice Culture and Other Products. — The captain of a 
ship saihng from Madagascar in 1691 gave to John Arch- 
dale, then Governor of South CaroHna, a small ibag of rice, 
which he distributed as seed among a number of gentlemen. 
Their experiments in planting it proved so satisfactory that 
from that time rice has been a staple crop in lower South 
Carolina. 

The planting of cotton had met with only fair success 
until, in 1793, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, and 
South Carolina soon became one of the cotton producing 
regions of the world. 

Prosperity. — The colony continued to prosper, and just 
before the Revolution had a population of one hundred and 
eighty thousand. 

The people had revolted in 1686 against paying to the 
proprietors " quit rents " — the small tax exacted on their 
lands — and in 1729, as we have seen, the colony was sepa- 
rated from North Carolina, became a " royal " province, and 
was thenceforth directly responsible to the king. The iso- 
lated situation of South Carolina made her depend laro-ely 
on her own resources, and assert strongly her own rights, 
so that love of freedom was inherent in her brave, intelligent, 
and patriotic people, and the doctrine of " States' Rights ' 
was born even before the Revolution, and continued to 
grow with her growth, and strengthen with her strength. 

Georgia As we have seen, Georgia formed a part 

of the territory granted to the proprietors of Carolina by 
Charles II, but there was no permanent white settlement 
made within its limits until the coming of General James 
Edward Oglethorpe, in 1732, one hundred and twenty-five 
years after the settlement of Jamestown. General Ogle- 
thorpe, who had served creditably in the British army, se- 



68 I^CHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

cured from King George II a charter for the land lying 
between the Savannah and Altamaha rivers, and from their 
headwaters to the Pacific ocean, and, in honor of the king, 
named it Georgia. The object of the settlement was to pro- 
vide a new start in life for industrious persons in England 
who had been unfortunate in business, and were in prison 
for debt. 

Parliament appropriated ten thousand pounds to promote 
the success of the enterprise, and Oglethorpe gave it his 
own fortune, and himself. In January, 1733, with about 130 
emigrants, Oglethorpe touched at Charleston, where he re- 
ceived lavish hospitality, and after resting for a season at 
Beaufort, he ascended the Savannah river, and selected the 
site of the present city of Savannah for his colony. He 
made terms of peace with neighboring tribes of Indians, 
laid ofif the beautiful streets, and parks, now so admired in 
the city of Savannah, and devised wise laws and regulations, 
which greatly promoted the welfare of the colony. 

Other Settlements. — The Sahbnrghcrs, in a valley of 
the Alps, had many of fJieni become Lutherans, and were 
cruelly persecuted by Leopold, Duke of Austria, who drove 
them from their homes. The trustees of the Georgia 
colony gave fifty of these families free passage to Savannah, 
a supply of provisions for one year, and a home for ten 
years rent free. 

They came with their bibles, hymn books, and cate- 
chisms, and being received with every kindness by Ogle- 
thorpe and his colonists, and directed to select their own 
location for their settlement, they chose a spot thirty miles 
up the Savannah river, which they named " Ebciic::er," be- 
cause, like Samuel and his people, they had abundant cause 
to say, " Hitherto hath the Lord helped us ! " They were 
an industrious, frugal people, were very moral and relig- 
ious, and their colony greatly prospered. 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 69 

Other settlers continued to pour in, and settlements were 
made at Augusta, Frcdcrica, Daricn, at the mouLli of the 
Altamaha, and at the mouth of St. Mary's river. 

The Wesleys and George Whitefield. — On the re- 
turn of Oglethorpe from England, in February, 1736, he 
was accompanied by two famous men, John and Charles 
Wesley — afterwards the founders of Methodism, whose 
pious and zealous disciples have exerted so wide, and so 
salutary an influence on the world — who came to preach 
the gospel to the natives, and to promote the moral and 
religious interests of the colony. 

Coming into contact with the Lutheran settlement of 
Salzburghers, John Wesley was so impressed, and influ- 
enced 'by their simple faith, and deep-toned piety, that he 
attributed his own true conversion to God to the instru- 
mentality of these humble Christians. 

After two years o-f self-sacrificing, laborious work among 
the Indians, and the colonists, the Wesleys returned to Eng- 
land, and, under their influence, their friend and co-worker 
George Whitefield (whit-feld) came over, and preached with 
wonderful power. This preacher was in some respects the 
greatest of the centuries. 

Whitefield became so much interested in the orphanage 
established by the Salzburghers that he collected money in 
England, and established a similar one in Savannah, named 
" Bethesda," which remams to this day a monument to the 
great preacher. 

After preaching for some time in Georgia, Whitefield 
passed up through the other colonies as far as Massachu- 
setts, preaching the gospel to immense crowds, and with 
blessed results. 

Slavery General Oglethorpe, the Lutheran settlers, 

the Scotch Highlanders, the Wesleys, and other leading 
citizens of Georgia were very mucli opposed to importing 



10 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

into the colony cither rum or African slaves, and strong 
petitions against their introduction were sent to the trustees 
in England. 

Whitefield, also, took strong ground against slavery, but 
afterguards changed his mind, and advocated slavery on the 
ground that it would be a great blessing to the negro in 
civilizing and christianizing him. Negroes were thus kept 
out of Georgia until after Oglethorpe had left the colony 
and returned to England, and then they were brought in 
and found very valuable in the cultivation of rice, cotton, 
and indigo. 

The Salzburghers however, continued to refuse to use 
negro labor, and they were very prosperous, selHng yearly 
$50,000 worth of silk, besides their sales of cotton, rice, 
indigo, and other products. 

It will thus be seen that slavery was forced upon Georgia 
as upon other colonies, against the will of her people, and 
that Jefiferson had full justification for the indictment 
against England w^hich he drew in the original draft of the 
Declaration of Independence. 

War with the Spaniards From the beginning of the 

colony the Spaniards of Florida threatened trouble, because 
they claimed Georgia and South Carolina as a part of their 
own territory. 

Oglethorpe prepared for war by enlisting a regiment of 
200 men in England, and making treaties with all of the 
Indian tribes within his territory. When England declared 
war against Spain, in 1739, Oglethorpe promptly invaded 
Florida, and failing in an attack on St. Augustine, he skil- 
fully withdrew his forces. 

In 1742, the Spaniards invaded Georgia with fifty-six ves- 
sels and about 7000 troops, and though they greatly out- 
numbered him, Oglethorpe, by a bold front and able 
stratesrv, drove them from his colonv. 



8CB00L BISTORY OF THE VNITED ^TATEii. 71 

General Oglethorpe returned to England in 1743, was 
rapidly promoted until he became " General of all his 
Majesty's forces," and in 1775 refused the supreme com- 
mand of the British forces sent to subjugate the colonies, 
because he did not believe in the movement, and did not 
believe that it would succeed. 

Questions — Tell what you know of the first settlement in Mary- 
land Give the history of the Albemarle settlement. Constitution 
of Locke. What of the war with the Yemasee Indians? Circum- 
stances which led to the colonization of Georgia? The Salzburgh- 
ers? Visit of the Weslcys to Georgia? Of George Whitefield? 
Opposition to slavery and its final introduction? War with the 
Spaniards? 

CHAPTER IX. 

INTERCOLONIAL WARS. 

King William's War — There were many wars among 
the nations of Europe. As time rolled on, England and 
France became rivals in the New World. Their colonies 
shared their jealousy, so that when the governments on the 
other side of the Atlantic began fighting, the settlers in 
America did the same. 

When William III was king of England in 1689, war 
broke out between that country and France and lasted until 
1697. The Indians of Maine and Canada fought on the 
side of France, and the Iroquois, or Five Nations of New' 
York, on the side of the English. A great many cruel 
deeds were done by the red men. 

Queen Anne's War — Queen Anne's War began in 
1702 and ended in 1713. It was between Spain and France 
on one side and England on the other. The Iroquois In- 
dians took no part, because of their treaty with France. 
New England suffered greatly. Her frontier was ravaged 
and a number of settlements abandoned. 



72 SCHOOL BTSTOKY OF THE UNITEn STATES. 

King George's War — King George's War began in 
1744 and lasted four years. It was between England and 
France. Louisburg, on the island of Cape Breton, one of 
the strongest fortresses in the world, was captured by the 
English and colonial troops in 1745, but given back to 
France when peace came. 

The French and Indian War — The mighty struggle 
between England and France, as to which nation should be 
master in the New World, began in 1754 and lasted nine 
years. The English settlements extended along the sea 
coast for a thousand miles. The French had a line of nu'li- 
tary stations from Lake Ontario, down the Mississippi to 
New Orleans. France intended to found an empire in the 
valley of the Mississippi. 

West of the Alleghany mountains was a vast region 
claimed by both England and France. They pushed into 
the disputed territory, and the English and French traders 
met each other. The quarrel thus begun caused the French 
and Indian War. 

The French established several posts to keep out other 
traders, most of whom were Virginians. The latter com- 
plained to Governor Din-wid'die, who asked the House of 
Burgesses to instruct him what to do. That body directed 
him to send a protest to the French general and demand an 
explanation of his action. The young man selected as the 
bearer of this message was George Washington. 

George Washington • W^ashington at that time was 

about twenty-two years old. He was six feet two inches 
tall, active, powerful, a fine horseman, of good habits, brave, 
truthful, an affectionate son, and respected by all who knew 
him. He was born in Westmoreland county, Virginia, 
February 22d, 1732. 

This journey from Williamsburg to Fort La Boeuf (lah 
buf) and back was fully one thousand miles through a 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 73 

trackless wilderness infested with hostile Indians, wild 
beasts, and perils of every description, but young Washing- 
ton and his guide performed it with marvelous energy, 
heroism, and powers of endurance. The journey lasted 
over two months. 

The French commandant refused to leave, and his 
answer roused Virginia. A party was sent to build a 
fort where Pittsburg now stands. Six companies of volun- 
teers were called out, and two of these, under Lieutenant- 
Colonel Washington, at once set out for the Ohio country. 
At Will's Creek he learned that the party sent to build the 
fort had been driven away by the French, who had strength- 
ened the fort and named it Du Quesne (du-kane). Un- 
daunted, he continued his march to a level valley called 
Great Meadows. Near this point he captured a party of 
French scouts, whose leader, Jumonville, was killed. 
Washington then built a fort in the center of the meadow, 
which he named Fort Necessity. When the other com- 
panies joined him he again began his march, but hearing 
that the French were near, returned to his fort, which was 
soon surrounded by the enemy. After fighting all dav, 
they offered to let the Virginians retire with their fiags and 
arms. As his powder was exhausted, W^ashington accepted 
the terms. Thus began the war known to us as the French 
and Indian ^^^ar. 

Braddock's Defeat -In the summer of 1755, General 

Braddock. who had arrived from England with two regi- 
ments of British regulars, marched against Du Quesne. 
Washington was his aide. Two thousand Americans 
joined Braddock, who did not hesitate to sneer at them as of 
little account. He marched into the forest with drums 
beating and colors flying. W^ashington warned him of the 
danger he ran in doing this, but the conceited British officer 



74 SCHOOL IILSTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

told the young Virginian that he wished no advice from 
him. 

When about ten miles from the fort, the troops were at- 
tacked by hundreds of French and Indians. Washington 
and his Virginians leaped behind trees and fought like the 
red men. Braddock was angered at the action of the Vir- 
ginians, and would not let his soldiers fire except by 
platoons, even though no enemy was in sight. Braddock 
fought bravely until mortally wounded. All the officers on 
his stafT, except Washington, were either killed or disabled. 
At last, Washington brought ofT the remnant of the army. 
One-half the men had been killed or wounded. 

Capture of Quebec. — During the first two or three 
years of the war the English and Americans lost ground. 
In the summer of 1759. General Wolfe, with 8000 troops 
and a large fleet, set out to capture Quebec, which was de- 
fended by Montcalm, with a force of about equal strength. 

It was a long time before the English commander could 
find a way of climbing the high banks of the river to the 
plain above, where a part of the city lay beyond the reach of 
his guns. Finally, a steep, narrow path was discovered, up 
which Wolfe and his men stealthily climbed at night. 
When the sun rose, the astonished Montcalm saw the 
English army drawn up in battle array before the city. 

Had Montcalm stayed in Quebec he would have been in 
little danger. He was a brave man, and marched out to at- 
tack the enemy. Wolfe was wounded twice, but continued 
the fighting and led the bayonet charge that won the battle. 
At the moment of victory he was struck a third time and 
mortally wounded. As his men were carrying him to the 
rear, he heard some one exclaim : " They fly ! They fly ! " 
" Wlio fly ? " faintly asked W^olfe. " The French," was the 
reply. " God be praised, I die happy," he said, and passed 
awav a few minutes later. 



(SCHOOL HISTOHT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



75 



Montcalm fell about the same time. When the surgeon 
told him he must die, he replied : " I am glad I shall not live 
to see the surrender of Quebec." A monument has been 
erected in that city in honor of those two brave officers. 

The End of French Rule in America Quebec sur- 
rendered September i8, 1759. Its fall marked the end of 




WASHINGTON RAISING THE BRITISH FLAG ON FOKT PITT. 



French rule in America. Fort Du Quesne had been cap- 
tured in 1758 and named Fort Pitt. Washington raised the 
British flag over the ruins. A treaty of peace was signed in 
February, 1763. France yielded to England all her posses- 
sions east of the Mississippi, except two small islands near 
Newfoundland. These were kept as fishing stations. Spain 
ceded Florida, and the part of Louisiana this side of the 



76 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Mississippi to England. France ceded New Orleans and 
that part of Louisiana lying west of the Mississippi to 
Spain. France no longer owned an acre of land in America. 

Questions.— When did King William's War begin and end? 
When did Queen Anne's War begin and end? When did King 
George's War begin and end? Describe George Washington. 
Tell of Braddock's defeat. Describe the capture of Quebec. 
What did France yield to England? What was kept by France? 



CHAPTER X. 

COLONIAL HOME LIFE. 

Growth of the Colonies — The number of colonies had 
grown to thirteen, with a population of about 2,000,000. 
There were slaves in every part of the country. All the 
colonies were Protestant in their government, though 
Catholics largely predominated in Maryland. 

The Strict Laws. — In colonial times the laws were very 
strict. We would not submit to them in these days. For 
instance, in Hartford, a watchman rang a bell each morning 
as an order for every one to rise from his bed. One Sun- 
day, a man, on coming home from church, found his fire had 
burned out. He split some kindlings and started it again. 
The church officers condemned him for breaking the holy 
day. In Massachusetts there were fourteen, and in Virginia 
seventeen, ofifenses punishable with death. 

Methods of Punishment Some of the methods of 

punishment were odd. If a woman scolded too much, she 
was placed near her own door for several hours with a gag 
in her mouth, that every one who passed might see her and 
take warning. For other offenses, a person was ducked or 
soused in water, or put in the stocks. A stock was a frame 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 77 

in which the feet or the feet and hands were fastened. The 
pillory was a frame throtigh wliich the head and hands of a 
criminal were put. 

The Dress The breeches of the men and boys resem- 
bled the present fashion of knickerbockers. The rich used 
silver buckles and buttons. The breeches of the poorer 
people were made of coarse cloth, deerskin, or leather. The 
well-to-do used velvet, and their coats showed a great deal 
of lace and ornament. Some of the people were as fond of 
display in dress as their descendants are today. The gov.ms 
of the girls and women were not very different from those 
now worn. The waist was pretty close under the arms, but 
the hats and bonnets often showed plenty of ornament in 
the way of ribbons and designs. 

How the Clothing Was Made No family could get 

along without a spinning wheel. With it the thrifty mother 
and daughters spun the thread for the shirts, coats and 
breeches of the male members of the family, the garments 
for the women, and the yarn for the stockings of all. After 
the yarn was ready, the mother's knitting needles shaped it 
into coverings for the feet. 

The Houses and Furniture At first, all the houses 

were made of logs, with small windows. The latter were to 
guard against Indians. Glass was so scarce that most of 
the panes were oiled paper. No one used carpets. The 
few articles of furniture, such as tables, stools and chairs, 
were put together by the head of the family. Sometimes 
the floor was the hard ground. All the cooking was done 
in the 'big fireplace. An iron arm, called a crane, on which 
pots and kettles were hung, was swung over the fire. No 
such thing as coal was known, and a flame was started by 
means of a piece of steel and flint. But many of the rich 
had elegant mansions, and beautiful furniture which was 
imported from England. 



78 SCHOOL HhSTOKY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

How They Ate — • Very little money was in circulation. 
Among the poorer people the children often had to stand 
while eating from the table. Blocks of wood were some- 
times used as plates. There were knives, but fingers served 
as forks. At first, coffee and tea were never seen, but 
nearly every family made its own beer. 

How They Traveled. — As the use of steam was un-' 
known, there were no railways or steamboats. Stages ran 
between important points, but most of the traveling was 
done on foot or on horseback. The chief settlements being 
near the sea, or on large rivers, the long journeys were made 
on coasting sloops. In 1766, when a hne of stages ran be- 
tween New York and Philadelphia in two days, the speed 
was considered so wonderful that the stages were called 
" flying machines." The same journey is now Uiade in two 
hours. 

Education. — The schools were poor. The chief work 
of the teacher was to keep the children in order with the 
help of a big switch, which was nearly always in his hand. 
The seats and desks were as uncomfortable as they could be. 
The teacher was harsh and fond of using the rod, and the 
text-books were not to be compared with the beautiful ones 
which it is your privilege to use. There was a good deal of 
ignorance among the masses. Many men and women could 
not write their names. The first printing press in America 
was set up in Cambridge in 1639; the first newspaper was 
printed in 1704, and the first college (Harvard) -was founded 
in 1636, and the second (^William and Alary, in Virginia) in 
1693. Other colleges were rapidly organized, such as Yale, 
1700; Princeton, 1746; Columbia, 1754; Pennsylvania Uni- 
versity, 1749, and Brown University, 1764. There were, 
among the colonists, many highly educated men and some 
beginnings of literature. The rich had their private tutors, 
or sent their children to schools in England. 



HCnOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 79 

The necessities of the people stimulated invention, and a 
rude cotton gin was in use on some of the plantations, many 
of the implements of every-day use had been improved, and 
Franklin had made experiments in electricity which re- 
sulted in his invention of the lightning rod. David Ritten- 
house established a rude observatory and gained distinction 
by his astronomical studies and observations. 

Religion and Religious Worship There were no 

Sunday-schools until after the Revolution. The sermons 
were one, two, three and sometimes four hours long. No 
fire was allowed in the building, even on the coldest days, 
though sometimes a woman or weak person would bring a 
foot-warmer. If a man or boy became drowsy and nodded, 
the constable, who was on the watch, brought back his 
senses by whacking his head with a rabbit's foot, fastened to 
the end of a stick. If the sleepy one was a female, the other 
end of the stick, to which was fastened a rabbit's tail, was 
brushed against her forehead. In New England, Sunday 
began at sunset on Saturday and lasted twenty-four hours. 

Prof. Geo. F. Holmes says : " The state of religion among 
the people differed greatly in the different provinces. The 
Church of England was the established church in New 
York, \^irginia, and the Carohnas. In Maryland, the popu- 
lation remained largely Roman Catholic. In New Eng- 
land, the original Puritanism was dominant, but its rigor 
had become much softened. A solemn and somewhat 
gloomy piety, however, still prevailed. The Presbyterians 
were numerous, influential and earnest in New Jersey. 
There were also, especially in Pennsylvania, the quiet and 
gentle Quakers. In Carolina and Georgia, Moravians and 
other German Protestants were settled, and Huguenot 
families were frequent in Virginia and South Carolina. 
The revival of fervor, which was excited by the Wesleys, 
was widely spread by Whitefield in America, and Method- 



80 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

ism was making itself felt throughout the country. The 
Baptists were spreading in different colonies, and were ac- 
quiring influence by their earnest simplicity. They favored 
liberty in all forms, and became warm partisans of the revo- 
lutionary movement. 

Questions. — Describe the growth of the colonies. What is said 
of the laws in colonial times? Describe the dress of the men and 
boys. Describe the houses. Describe the methods of travel. 
What of the schools? The state of religion in the different 
colonies? 

CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY OF EVENTS. 

A. D. PAGE. 

1607. Jamestown settled by the English, May 23 42 

1613. Pocahontas married to John Rolft 45 

1619. The first legislative body in America met in Virginia. ... 47 
i6ig. African slavery introduced at Jamestown 47 

1620. The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth 51 

1623. New Hampshire settled at Dover and Portsmouth 57 

1630. Boston founded 53 

1631. Connecticut settled at Windsor 55 

1634. Maryland settled at St. Mary's 63 

1635. Hartford founded 55 

1636. Rhode Island settled at Providence 56 

1638- Delaware settled at Christiana by Swedes 61 

1645. Clayborne's rebellion in Maryland 62 

1664. New Amsterdam captured by the English 58 

1664. New Jersey settled at Elizabethtown 59 

1670. First settlement in South Carolina made on Ashky river. . 65 

1672. New Jersey divided into East and West Jersey 59 

1676. Bacon's rebellion 50 

1680. Charleston, S. C, founded 65 

1682. Pennsylvania settled 61 

1724. Vermont settled 57 

1733. Savannah, Ga., founded by General Ogelthrope 68 

1745. Louisburg captured 72 

1753. Washington's journey through the wilderness 73 

1755. Braddock defeat ■..,■..,, 73 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 81 

PART III. 

Revolution and Independence (1765-1783). 

CHAPTER XI. 
OPENING OF THE REVOLUTION. 

The Causes of the Revolution George III, king of 

England, acted the part of a tyrant toward his American 
colonies. Many oppressive measures were enforced. In 
1660, England passed the Navigation Act, which required 
all the commerce of the colonies to be carried on in English 
ships, and forbade Virginia to ship her tobacco to any coun- 
try except Great Britain. All trade between the colonies 
was severely taxed. In 1733, England enforced the Impor- 
tation Act, which laid heavy duties on the sugar, molasses 
and rum imported into the provinces. In 1750, she decreed 
that no iron works should be permitted in America, and the 
manufacture of steel was forbidden. These laws were 
evaded in every way possible, but the attempts to enforce 
them made the colonies angry and resentful. The Ameri- 
cans had given great help to tlie mother country during the 
French and Indian War, which so redounded to the glory of 
England. The cost, which was enormous, was mainly sad- 
dled upon the colonies, which were not allowed to have 
a delegate in the British Parliament to look after their inter- 
ests. This was taxation zvithout representation. 

The Parsons' Case — By the law establishing the 
Church of England in Virginia all of every creed were 
taxed to support the church and the clergy. 



82 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Each clergyman was to receive as his salary sixteen thou- 
sand pounds of tobacco, valued at the time the law passed 
at twopence per pound, but in 1758, when the price of to- 
bacco had gone up to sixpence per pound, the Assembly 
enacted that the salary might be paid in money at the old 
rate of twopence per pound for tobacco. 

The clergy appealed to the king, who declared the act of 
the Assembly null and void, and many of them brought suit 
for their full salaries, and damages. 

A test case was tried in Hanover county, and the court 
having decided the act of Assembly null and void because 
disapproved by the king, the question of damages was sub- 
mitted to the jury. 

The able counsel for the defendants having withdrawn 
from the case after the decision of the court, a young lawyer 
named Patrick Henry (who had never made a reputation 
before) was employed for the defence, and in a speech of 
marvellous eloquence, and power he denounced the king 
for abrogating a law of the Assembly, and the clergy for 
claiming their " pound of flesh," and ably argued that the 
House of Burgesses alone, and not the king, or his Council, 
should make laws for the colony. 

He so completely captured court and jury, and the crowd 
of people who packed the Court House, that the jury 
promptly rendered a verdict of one penny damages, the court 
refused a new trial, and the people bore on their shoulders 
from the court this new champion of freedom.' 

Various Acts of Tyranny " Writs of Assistance,'' in- 
tended to enforce the " Acts of Trade," and giving tax offi- 
cers the right to invade a man's home, at any time, and 
examine his books, and search his house for evidence that 
he was violating the revenue laws, and " smuggling " goods 
into the country without " paying duty " on them, aroused 
great opposition, and were fiercely denounced by the elo- 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 83 

quent James Otis of Boston, and others, who sounded the 
keynote of freedom. 

The keeping of standing armies in the colonies, the mak- 
ing of the mihtary superior to the civil law, the protection of 
the soldiers when they conmiitted outrages on citizens, and 
the transporting of citizens to England for trial on trivial 
or trumped up charges — all of these and other causes 
roused the opposition of the colonies, and prepared the way 
for the Revolution. 

The Stamp Act. — But the climax was reached when 
Parliament passed, in March, 1763, the famous, and infa- 
mous, " Stamp Act," which provided that all newspapers, 
pamphlets, advertisements, and legal documents printed or 
written in America should bear a stamp, bought from the 
English government. The wrathful Americans mobbed 
the British officers, and burned the stamps, or sent them 
back to England. 

A sloop of war bringing stamps came into Cape Fear 
river, North Carolina, in January, 1766, and the news of its 
arrival produced great excitement among the people of 
Wilmington. A party of determined men, led by John 
Ashe, Hugh Waddell, and Cornelius Harnett, forbade the 
landing of the stamps, captured the stamp-master, carried 
him a prisoner to Wilmington, and made him take an oath 
not to distribute the stamps. John Ashe had previously 
assured the royal Governor that the execution of the Stamp 
Act would be resisted unto blood. 

The Virginia House of Burgesses was the first assembly 
to take formal action against the Stamp Act. Patrick 
Henry, a new member from the county of Louisa, where he 
then hved, introduced resolutions, written on the blank leaf 
of an old law book, to the efYect that Virginians had inher- 
ited all the rights of Englishmen; that two charters had 
reaffirmed this doctrine; that it was a principle of British 




PATRICK HENRV ADDRESSING THE HOLSE OF BURGESSES. 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 85 

freedom that there should be no taxation without representa- 
tion, and that it followed, therefore, that only the General 
Assemibly of the colony had the right to impose taxes upon 
the people. 

These bold resolutions were bitterly and ably opposed, 
but Henry defended them with the fiery eloquence of which 
he had given evidence a short time before in the famous 
" Parsons' case," at Hanover Court House. It was in this 
debate that the memorable scene occurred, when Henry 
reached his climax by exclaiming, " Caesar had his Brutus ; 
Charles I, his Cromwell, and George HI — " " Treason ! " 
cried the Speaker. '' Treason ! " echoed through the hall ; 
but Henry, with flashing eye and clarion voice, completed 
his sentence — " may profit by their example. If this be 
treason, make the most of it." The resolutions were 
adopted by a small majority — the boldest by a majority of 
only one ; but they were sent to the other colonies and 
adopted in substance by most of them. 

On learning of the adoption of these resolutions, the Gov- 
ernor was very angry with the House of Burgesses and dis- 
solved them ; but, as was said by a Northern writer, 
" Virginia rang the alarm bell," and the other colonies 
heeded her warning. 

The British Parliament was frightened, and repealed the 
Stamp Act the following year ; but that the Americans 
should understand England did not yield the right to tax 
them, a new tax was put on tea, glass, paper and printers' 
materials. 

The Boston Tea Party England now tried to soothe 

the Americans by taking off the tax on everything except 
tea. They, however, were contending for a principle, 
and would not admit the right of England to tax them 
at all. They refused to buy the tea. That which was sent 
to Charleston, S. C, was stored in damp cellars and spoiled. 



86 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The cargoes which reached New York and Philadelphia 
were not allowed to land. 

In Boston, on the night of the i6th of December, 1773, a 
party of white men, painted and dressed like Mohawk In- 
dians, went down to the harbor and boarded the ships lying 
there. They seized all the chests of tea on board and emp- 
tied their contents into the water. Then they went quietly 
home, and the British never learned the name of one of the 
" Indians." This event is known as the " Boston Tea 
Party." When the news spread through the other colonies, 
the people were delighted and proud of the bold act. But 
there were other " Tea Parties " which have, somehow, 
been lost sight of by many writers, but which were even 
bolder than the one in Boston. At Wilmington, N. C, a 
band of men, under well-known patriots as their brave, de- 
fiant leaders, went in open day and without disguise, and, 
boarding the tea ship, destroyed her cargo. In Annapolis, 
the ship Peggy Stczvart, which had a cargo of tea, was towed 
into a safe place in the harbor and in broad daylight burned 
with her entire cargo. 

By and by, the tidings went across the sea to England. 
She was so angry that she shut up the port of Boston, 
moved the custom house to Salem, and made General Gage 
Governor of Massachusetts. This oppression drew the 
colonies closer together and further away from the mother 
country. All of the colonies expressed sympathy for Bos- 
ton. Georgia sent sixty-three tierces of rice;' other pro- 
visions and money. Wilmington, N. C., sent provisions 
and money. 

The First Continental Congress It was clear that 

war was coming, and the Americans saw the need of agree- 
ing upon a course of action. So they sent their wisest men 
to Philadelphia to discuss the matter and decide upon the 
best thing to do. This body was the first Continental Con- 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 87 

gress, and met September 5, 1774. Georgia was the only 
colony not represented. Her Governor had no love for the 
" rebels," and would not allow the people to choose dele- 
gates ; but she was in hearty sympathy with the cause. 

The first Continental Congress was not afraid to say what 
it meant. It condemned England for quartering her sol- 
diers on the people, praised Massachusetts for the spirit she 
had shown, and declared that the colonies would have no 
dealings with the mother country until she ceased to oppress 
them. 

Incidents of the Opening Conflict The excitement 

increased every day. The old, the middle-aged, and the 
large boys formed companies that were called " minute 
men." These were drilled in military movements, until it 
seemed as if the beating of the drum, and the shrill notes of 
the fife were never still. 

We must remember that it was hardly a dozen years since 
the close of the French and Indian War, in which the 
Americans had done so well. They had learned how to 
fight, and among them were a good many officers who were 
the right ones to lead in the great events at hand. There 
had been riots all over the colonies. The first blood was 
shed in New York city, where, in an affray between the sol- 
diers and the citizens about a " liberty pole." which the 
former had pulled down, several citizens were killed ; but the 
soldiers were worsted and compelled to withdraw, and a 
new " liberty pole " was erected. 

The " Boston Massacre," in which, in an altercation be- 
tween citizens and soldiers, three citizens were killed and a 
number were wounded, occurred on March 5, 1770, and 
caused the most intense excitement throughout the country. 

Battle of the Alamance — In North Carolina was 
formed a band called " Regulators " to resist illegal faxes, 
but Governor Tryon, one of the most tyrannical and objec- 



88 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

tionable of all the Governors sent from England to rule the 
colonies, took the field against them, and, on the i6th day 
of May, 1 77 1, made an attack upon them on the Alamance 
river. The Regulators fought with the bravery that has 
ever characterized the soldiers of the " Old North State," 
but their ammunition gave out and they were compelled to 
retreat before greatly superior forces, leaving a number of 
their dead and wounded on the field. 

Destruction of the Gaspee. — In Rhode Island, in 1772, 
the people had shown their spirit by boarding and burning 
the Gaspcc, a British armed vessel, which had made herself 
especially obnoxious in enforcing the navigation laws and 
" acts of trade." 

Battle of Point Pleasant and Crushing Defeat of 
the Indians. — Early in September, 1774, two columns, 
one under General Lewis from the region of " West Au- 
gusta," and Botetourt, numbering about iioo men, and the 
other under the Governor, Lord Dunmore, numbering 1000 
men, set out to attack the hostile Indians on the western 
frontier, and were to unite at the mouth of the Kanawha 
river. 

Dunmore did not meet Lewis, but idly lingered near the 
present site of Chilacothe, Ohio, and the Virginians always 
believed that he had a secret understanding with the In- 
dians, and plotted the destruction of the command of Lewis 
that he might, by alliance with the Indians, the more easily 
subdue the rebellious spirit of the colonies. 

General Lewis was attacked on the loth of October, 1774, 
at Point Pleasant, at the mouth of the Kanawha, by a 
greatly superior force of Indians, under their famous Chief 
Cornstalk, and the battle raged fiercely and with varying 
fortunes from early morning until night. The whites suf- 
fered severely — losing two field officers (Colonels Lewis 
and Field) killed, one (Colonel Fleming) desperately 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 89 

wounded, and more than half of the other officers, and 140 
privates killed, and wounded. 

But the Indians were completely routed, and so crushed 
by their bloody defeat that they gave the colonists no further 
trouble. 

So bitter was the feeling against Dunmore that the offi- 
cers of his own command, as well as those of Lewis, united 
in passing resolutions denouncing the royal Governor, ex- 
pressing sympathy with the Continental Congress, and 
avowing their purpose to defend the liberties of the colonies. 
This was really a " Declaration of Independence," as was a 
paper adopted a year later by the " Minute Men " of Albe- 
marle county, Va. George Rogers Clark of Albemarle 
county, afterwards so famous as the conqueror of the North 
Western Territory, was a leading spirit of Lewis' command. 

Virginia Patriotism In Virginia the fires of patriot- 
ism burned as steadily and as brightly as in any of the colo- 
nies. The House of Burgesses was in session May 24, 
1774, when the news came of the Boston " Port Bill " and 
other measures which the British government had adopted 
against Boston, and at oiice passed resolutions of sympathy 
for their oppressed fellow-patriots, made the cause of Mas- 
sachusetts the cause of Virginia, appointed June i as a day 
of fasting, humiliation and prayer, and ordered a suitable 
sermon to be preached on the occasion. 

The next day the Governor, Lord Dunmore, dissolved the 
body, but they at once repaired to Apollo Hall, in the old 
Raleigh tavern, where they passed strong resolutions, con- 
demning the course of England towards the colonies, and 
proposing a general congress to consult on the proper meas- 
ures to be taken. They recommended that the delegates 
elected to the next House of Burgesses should meet '' in 
Convention " in Williamsburg ist of August, and appoint 
deputies to represent Virginia in the " General Congress " 



60 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE VNITED STATES. 

which they proposed. This was done, and the Virginia 
delegation had no small influence in shaping the action of 
the Continental Congress. 

But the spirit of the " Old Dominion " rose to its full 
height when the Virginia convention assembled in March, 
1775, in the historic old St. John's Church in Richmond, 
and Patrick Henry introduced his famous resolutions, de- 
nouncing, in direct terms, the presence of British troops in 
America as dangerous to American freedom, and proposing 
that the Virginia colony should be at once put on a war foot- 
ing, and that measures be immediately taken for that end. 
Some of the ablest men of the convention argued against 
these resolutions as being extreme, and contrasted the 
weakness of America with the strength of the greatest mili- 
tary and naval power of the world. 

It was then that Henry rose to the climax of his power 
and swept everything before him in a speech of unsurpassed 
eloquence, which rang out like a clarion call to battle. He 
concluded wath the memorable words : " Gentlemen may 
cry. Peace'! Peace ! but there is no peace. The war is al- 
ready beginning. The next gale that sweeps from the 
North will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms. 
Our brethren are already in the field. Why stand we here 
idle ? What is it that gentlemen wish ? What would they 
have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased 
at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it. Almighty 
God ! I know not what course others may take, but, as for 
me, give me liberty or give me death ! " 

The resolutions were adopted, and from her blue moun- 
tains to her seashore the notes of busy preparation for the 
impending struggle were heard, and the sons of Virginia of 
every creed were foremost in the great contest for liberty. 
Henry's burning words were prophetic, as the war actually 
began the very next month. 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 91 

The Battle of Lexington General Gage had 3000 

troops in Bos'ton. He learned that the Americans had 
gathered some military supplies at Concord, a few miles 
away, and April 19, 1775, sent a body of soldiers to destroy 
them. The " minute men " along the route were warned, 
and ran from all directions to meet the British. 

It was just growing light when the troops reached Lex- 
ington. One of their officers rode forward and ordered the 
militia men -on the village green to disperse, saying, 
" Disperse, ye rebels ! Disperse ! " The patriots held their 
ground. The officer commanded his soldiers to fire. They 
obeyed, and seven of the " minute men " fell dead. 

u\ scattering fire was returned, and the Americans fled. 
The soldiers marched on to Concord, destroyed the stores 
there and then started back. But the killing of the patriots 
at Lexington had roused the people, who swarmed about 
the troops and fired upon them as fast as they could load 
their guns. They knelt behind stone walls, fences, trees 
and bushes, and took deadly aim at the invaders, who were 
shot down so fast that it looked as if none of them would 
live to reach Boston. Reinforcements were sent to the 
British, however, or all of them would have been killed. 

Effect of the Fight at Lexington — Little idea can 
be formed of the wild excitement caused by the battle of 
Lexington. Men leaped upon horses and rode at break- 
neck pace to carry the news through the country. The 
farmers left their plows, dashed to their houses, caught up 
their rusty flintlocks and powder-horns, kissed their families 
good-bye, and then made all haste to Boston. Israel Put- 
nam was laying a stone wall at his home in Connecticut, 
when a galloping horseman shouted the news to him. 
Putnam was nearly sixty years old. His many daring ex- 
ploits had made him famous, and he was known as " Old 
Put." He dropped his work, and, without stopping to 



92 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

change his clothing, sprang on his horse and hardly drew 
rein until he had ridden the seventy miles to Boston. 

In Rhode Island, the patriots seized and carried off from 
the batteries forty cannon. Charleston, S. C, seized the 
arsenal and distributed the arms among her volunteers. 
Georgia seized the ro3al magazines and prepared to join 
her sister colonies. In Mecklenburg county. North Caro- 
lina, on the 20th of May, 1775, delegates assembled at 
Charlotte and passed resolutions absolving themselves from 
all further allegiance to Great Britain, and thus North Caro- 
lina had the honor of passing a " Declaration of Independ- 
ence " more than a year before that passed by the 
Continental Congress at Philadelphia. The forts of Ticon- 
deroga and Crown Point, which commanded communica- 
tions with Canada, were captured by Benedict Arnold and 
Ethan Allen, the latter demanding the surrender of the fort 
" in the name of the Great Jehovah, and the Continental 
Congress." 

Questions. — How did George III act toward his American col- 
onies? What was involved in the Parsons' case? What was the 
Stamp Act? How was it received? Describe the action of the 
Virginia House of Burgesses on Patrick Henry's resolutions. 
Give the story of the Boston Tea Party. What is said of the first 
Continental Congress? Tell of the Boston massacre. The battle 
of the Alamance. Action in Rhode Island. Battle of Point 
Pleasant. Henry's resolutions in March, 1775. What move was 
made by General Gage? Tell of the action in Rhode Island. The 
North Carolina " Declaration of Independence." 

CHAPTER XII. 

THE REVOLUTION. 

The Battle of Bunker Hill. — General Ward com- 
manded the Americans, who decided to anticipate the Brit- 
ish by fortifying Bunker Hill. Breed's Hill, close at hand, 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 93 

was agreed upon as the best place for defense, and the 
Americans threw up intrenchments there in the night. The 
British did not learn what had been done until the sun rose, 
June 17, 1775. Then the ships in the harbor opened fire, 
and General Howe landed with 3000 troops to drive out the 
patriots. 

It was a great day in Boston. The roofs and steeples 
were crowded with people, who, with breathless interest, 
watched the coming battle. The Americans numbered 
about 1500, under the immediate command of Colonel 
Prescott, but they were poorly armed and had received little 
military training. The " redcoats " were fine soldiers, and 
marched up the hill with regular step, drums beating and 
colors flying. Xo more thrilling picture can be imagined. 

" Wait till you can see the whites of their eyes," said 
Colonel Prescott to his men. When the British had almost 
reached the intrenchments, the command " Fire ! " rang 
along the American line. A sheet of flame and a crash of 
musketry burst from the patriots, and a score of soldiers 
fell. The fire continued, and the British broke and fled 
down the slope. At the foot they rallied, under cover of the 
smoke from burning Charlestown, to which General Gage 
had set fire. 

Again, to the inspiring- strains of martial music, the Brit- 
ish columns marched up the hill, only to be scattered by an- 
other fierce volley from the guns of the defenders. But 
General Gage had sent reinforcements, which formed a tliird 
time and advanced against the Americans. These would 
doubtless have been repulsed as before had the ammunition 
of the patriots held out. But in their eager bravery they 
had exhausted their scant supply, and were able to discharge 
but a single volley more. They clubbed their guns and 
fought fiercely to keep back their enemies, but the redcoats 
swarmed over the entrenchments, and, with fixed bayonets. 



94 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



drove out the Americans. The battle of Bunker Hill was a 
victory for the British, but the effect upon the Americans 
was that of a victory for them, since their untrained volun- 
teers had so long- resisted twice their numbers of veteran 
British soldiers, and had only retreated when their ammuni- 
tion was exhausted. 




DEATH OF GENERAL WARREN. 



General Warren, who had just been appointed Major- 
General, crossed Charlestown Neck amidst a storm of bul- 
lets, offered his services as a volunteer to defend the 
redoubt, and was killed near the close of the battle by a Brit- 
ish officer who knew him. His death was widely lamented 
by the Americans, and General Gage said that " his fall was 
worth that of five hundred ordinary rebels." 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 95 

Arrival of Washington. — The second Continental 
Congress had met in Philadelphia in May and made George 
Washington, of Virginia, Commander-in-chief of the Am- 
erican armies. He arrived at Cambridge July 3, and took 
charge of the 14,000 badly-armed, and disciplined men, who 
were also poorly supplied with ammunition. Under his 




DEATH OF GENERAL .MoMl 



master hand they improved rapidly, and grew into an army 
of some efficiency. As a military man, however, Washing- 
ton felt obliged to remain inactive much longer than the 
impatient wishes of the patriots could tolerate, and hence 
there was considerable dissatisfaction at his delay in driving 
the British from Boston. 

Attempt to Capture Canada. — The latter part of this 
year there was an attempt to capture Canada by two armies, 
one under Richard Montgomery, who moved on Montreal 



96 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

and found it abandoned, and the other under Arnold, who 
moved on Quebec. After encountering very great hard- 
ships and losing very heavily of men, who fell out by the 
way, the two armies united before Quebec and demanded 
the surrender of the city. As they had in their joint com- 
mand only 1000 men, the demand was refused, and a night 
assault upon this strong fortress, which mounted 200 guns, 
was defeated. Montgomery was killed, Arnold severely 
wounded, and Captain Daniel Morgan, of Virginia, who 
captured the advance batteries, was compelled, after a three 
hours' gallant fight, to surrender with his detachment. 

Operations in the South Lord Dunmore having re- 
moved twenty barrels of powder from the magazine at 
Wilhamsburg, Patrick Henry collected volunteers for its 
recovery, but a conflict was delayed by the Governor's 
agreeing to pay for the powder. Dunmore, however, fled 
on board a British man-of-war and went to Norfolk; and, 
when he was defeated at Great Bridge, about twenty miles 
from Norfolk, and the Virginia forces entered the city, he 
again took refuge on a man-of-war and bombarded and 
burned the city, which lost nearly two millions by the con- 
flagration. Dunmore proclaimed freedom to the negroes, 
and invited them to join his standard and fight against their 
masters. This was the precedent followed by the Federals 
in the war of 1861-65. He established his camp on Gwynn's 
Island, protected by his fleet, but the next summer General 
Andrew Lewis, the hero of Point Pleasant, drove off the 
fleet and broke up his camp. Thus Virginia took care of 
herself, while sending her troops to well nigh every battle 
of the Revolution. 

In North and South Carolina, also, the royal Governors 
and their adherents were driven out. 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED l:iTATES. 97 

EVENTS OF 1776. 
Evacuation of Boston. — By March, Washington 
thought himself strong enough to force the British to evac- 
uate Boston, and accordingly he bombarded their fortifica- 




GEORGE WASHINGTON. 



tions for three days, and, on the third night, seized and 
fortified Dorchester Heights, which commanded the c'ty 
and the harbor on the south. The British general, Howe, 
knew that the city was untenable unless he drove the Amer- 



98 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

icans from their position on Dorcliester Heights, which 
they were making stronger every day. Howe decided to 
evacuate, and, on the 17th of March, according to informal 
agreement, he did so without molestation on the part of the 
Americans. 

General Howe sailed for Halifax, taking with him a large 
number of Tories ; the Americans entered the city, General 
Putnam was placed in command, and the property of refu- 
gee Tories was sold and the proceeds used for the public 
service. 

Supposing that Howe would attack New York, Washing- 
ton sent forward a part of his army to defend it, and has- 
tened thither himself. The British plan for the year really 
was to relieve Quebec, still threatened by Arnold, capture 
New York city, overrun the State, carry war into the South 
and invade the Northern colonics from Canada. They ap- 
prehended no danger to Boston, and its enforced evacuation 
changed and delayed their plans. 

Battle of Moore's Creek, N. C In February, 1776, a 

body of 1600 Tories were marching on Wilmington, N. C., 
where they expected to find a British fleet and army come 
for the conquest of North Carolina. 

Colonel Caswell, with 1000 patriot volunteers, met them 
at Moore's Creek, and, after a hotly contested fight, routed 
them. This is claimed by North Carolina historians as 
being " the first American victory " in the Revolution, and 
It certainly saved the State from invasion at that 'time. 

British Attack on Charleston. — In the latter part of 
June, a British fleet, numbering about fifty vessels, attacked 
Charleston, S. C. Fort Moultrie replied with so much ef- 
fect that the shattered fleet drew ofif and sailed for New 
York. In the midst of the battle, the flagstaff of the fort 
was shot away, and the flag fell outside. Sergeant William 
Jasper sprang over the breastwork, tied the flag to a sponge- 



SCHOOL HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES. 



99 



staff, and planted it again in place. The hero was offered a 
lieutenant's commission, which he modestly declined. 

The Declaration of Independence North Carolina 

had directed her delegates to concur in a Declaration of 
Independence. The X'irginia convention directed their 
delegates in Congress " to propose to that body to declare 




the United Colonics tree, independent, and sovereign 
States." Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia (not Henry Lee, 
who served so ably and gallantly in the army, was known as 
" Light Horse Harry," and w^as the father of Robert Ed- 
ward Lee), accordingly moved, on June 7, 1776, "That these 
United Colonics are and ongJit to be free and independent States, 
and that all political connection hctivcen them and the State of 
Great Britain is, and ought to he dissolved." 



Lof C. 



100 .SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The motion was seconded l)y John Adams, of Massachu- 
setts, who took a leading and able part in the debate which 
followed ; and, on the 2d of July, the motion was adopted, 




COMMITTEE OF CONGRESS DI?AFTING DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 

and referred to the committee, consisting of Thomas Jeffer- 
son, of Virginia ; Benjamin Franklin, of Pennsylvania ; John 
Adams, of A/Iassachusetts ; Roger Sherman, of Connecticut, 
and Robert R. Livingston, of New York, which had been 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 101 

appointed June i6 to draft a suitable Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. Richard Henry Lee had been providentially 
called to his home in A^irginia. 

Thomas Jefferson wrote the original draft, his paper was 
slightly altered by Franklin and Adams, reported to the 
House on the 28th of June, and, on the memorable fourth of 
July, 1776, the document was adopted by Congress, signed 
by its members, and proclaimed to the country, and the 
world. The autograph signatures of the individual mem- 
bers are of deep interest, and many incidents worth preserv- 
ing occurred during the signing. When Charles Carroll, 
of Maryland, was about to affix his signature, some one re- 
marked that as there were several of his name in the State 
he would probably escape identification and punishment if 
the cause should fail, whereupon the brave old patriot wrote 
his name in unmistakable characters, " Charles Carroll of 
Carrolltou." 

The hall in which Congress was sitting has been pre- 
served to this day as " Indcl^oidcncc Hall; " the bell which 
rang out the glad tiduigs is still preserved as " Old Liberty 
Dell." Many other souvenirs of the grand event are care- 
fully preserved as precious relics, while the fourth of July 
has been ever observed as a national holiday, and it is hoped 
will be still more generally observed in the future, that the 
youth of our land may learn and heed its lessons. The 
Declaration was welcomed everywhere with the ringing of 
bells, with bonfires and illuminations, the firing of cannon 
and shouts of joy. The fight henceforth was not for rights 
as British subjects, but as American freemen. 

The Confederation Soon after the appointment of 

the committee which presented the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, Congress appointed another committee to draw 
up for consideration a plan for the union of the thirteen 
colonies. 



102 SCHOOL HISTORY OF TEE UNITED STATES. 

Twelve clays later the committee submitted what they 
called ''Articles of Confederation, and Perpetual Union between 
the States." Under the system established by the Articles 
there was no President. All the authority was vested in 
Congress, to which the States were to send delegates to be 
elected annually, each State being entitled to not more than 
seven delegates or less than two. 

These " Articles " were submitted to the several States 
for ratification, and, having been ratified by all of the States 
except Maryland, became the first form of Union of the 
Colonies. We will see later on the weak points of the 
" Articles of Confederation," and why the " Perpetual 
Union " gave way to a new plan of Union. 

Campaign Near New York General Howe soon 

sailed from Hahfax for New York. His brother, Admiral 
Howe, arrived from England with reinforcements, and the 
English fleet returned from the attack on Charleston. This 
made the strength of the invaders fully 30,000 men. Wash- 
ington, who had only 7000 soldiers fit for duty, made ready 
to defend the city. 

The British landed on the southwest shore of Long 
Island, August 27. General Putnam and his command 
fought bravely, but the enemy got in their rear, and the 
Americans were badly defeated. Instead of attacking the 
Americans at Brooklyn, Howe awaited the arrival of the 
fleet. The patriots were helpless for two days. Then a 
dense fog came to their aid. Rather strangely, it veiled 
everything on the Brooklyn side, but it was clear in New 
York. At midnight the Americans stole away from Brook- 
lyn, and, under cover of the fog, crossed the river. 

Defeat of Washington. — Washington was too weak 
to defend New York against the British, and they occupied 
the city. The American commander withdrew to White 
Plains, where he repulsed an attack of the enemy. The 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 103 

British were so strong", however, that the Americans were 
forced to retreat, October 28. Fort Washington, on the 
Hudson, was captured November 16 by a large force of 
Hessians. The Hessians were natives of Hesse-Cassel, 
Germany. The King of England hired several thousand of 
them to help his soldiers conquer America. 

Retreat Through New Jersey. — Washington re- 
treated across New Jersey, hoping to save Philadelphia, 
which was the most important city in the country. It was 
in the depth of winter, and the patriots were in rags. Hun- 
dreds had no shoes. In many places they left bloody foot- 
prints on the frozen ground. Cornwalhs, the ablest of the 
British leaders, with 6000 men, followed in hot pursuit. 
The armies were continually in sight of each other and 
often exchanged shots. The patriot force was about one- 
half that of the redcoats, and grew smaller as the retreat 
continued. 

Nathan Hale the Patriot Martyr During the cam- 
paign around New York, W^ashington sent into the enemy's 
lines to ascertain, if possible, their position, force and plans. 
Captain Nathan Hale, of Connecticut, a graduate of Yale 
College, and a brave and accomplished young officer, who 
volunteered for this perilous service. He had succeeded in 
securing very valuable information, and had almost reached 
the American lines, when he was captured and criminating 
papers found upon his person. 

Being carried before General Howe, in New York, on tlie 
2ist of September, he was, after a brief examination, found 
guilty of being a spy, and condemned to be executed the 
next morning. He marched to the gibbet with calm reso- 
lution, and unfaltering step, his last words being : " I only 
regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." 

Battle of Trenton Reaching the Delaware, Wash- 
ington seized all the boats and crossed into Pennsylvania. 



104 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Cornwallis decided to wait for the river to freeze before fol- 
lowing' the patriots further. Fifteen hundred volunteers 
joined Washington, and he resolved to strike the enemy. 
On Christmas night, in the midst of a fierce storm of snow 
and sleet, and with the Delaware filled with floating ice, he 
crossed a few miles above Trenton, with 2400 picked men. 




WASHINGTON CROSSING THE DELAWARE. 



By a rapid march, he reached the town at daybreak, drove 
in the Hessian pickets, killed Colonel Rahl and sixteen 
soldiers and captured 1000 of the enemy. 



EVENTS OF 1777. 

Battle of Princeton Cornwallis was so near that 

Washington recrosscd to Pennsylvania after the battle of 
Trenton. Three days later he came back, with his army 
increased to 6000 men. Smarting with the disgrace of 
Rahl's defeat. Cornwallis attacked Washington at the As- 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 105 

SLinpink creek, which flows through the town, but was re- 
pulsed. Thaf night \\'ashington stole out of Trenton, 
reached Princeton by a roundabout course, and fell upon 
the rear of the British, January 3, at sunrise. He won a 
victory before Cornwallis could get back to the town. Then 
Washington went into winter quarters at Morristown, and 
the British did the same at New Brunswick. 

Lafayette. — Benjamin Franklin was sent to France to 
try to persuade that country to lielp us in our struggle 
against England. It 
was some time before 
he met with success. 
Among- those who de- 
cided to aid the Ameri- 
cans was Lafayette, 
only nineteen years old, 
and a captain of dra- 
goons. He was rich, 
and fitted out his own 
vessel. He brought 
with him a numl^er of 
French of^cers and a 
fine German soldier. 
Baron De Kalb. When 
they reached this coun- 
try, in April, i///, La- 
fayette asked Congress 

*" . LAFAYETTE. 

to allow hmi to serve m 

the patriot army, without pay, as Washington was doing. 
He met Washington a few days after, and the warm friend- 
ship which they formed lasted through life. He was made a 
Major-Gencral, when hardly twenty years of age. Pulaski, 
Kosciusko, Baron Steuben and other distinguished foreign- 
ers fought in the American armies. 




lOG ."-SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Campaign in Pennsylvania General Howe stayed in 

New York until September, when he sailed, with a force 
of about 20,000 men, for Chesapeake bay. Thence he 
marched toward Philadelphia. Washington, with a much 
weaker force, met him at Brandywine, September 11, but 
was defeated. Lafayette was wounded in the battle. Con- 
gress fled to Lancaster, and Howe occupied Philadelphia, 
Septem'ber 26. An attack was made on the enemy at Ger- 
mantown, October 4, but without success. 

Washington at Valley Forge Washington and his 

ragged army withdrew to Valley Forge and went into 
winter quarters. Their sufferings were dreadful. The 
wretched log huts could not be warmed ; only a few had 
parts of blankets, and even straw could not be got. Food 
was scarce, and the patriots many times felt the pangs of 
starvation. To add to the darkness of the situation, there 
were intrigues against Washington, and efforts to remove 
him. The " Conway Cabal," as it was called, because Gen- 
eral Conway was its chief promoter, brought into its con- 
spiracy some influential men. Pennsylvania sent in a paper 
strongly censuring Washington, and the same was done by 
the Massachusetts delegation, with Adams at their head. 
The plan was to make Gates, the " Conqueror of Bur- 
goyne," as they called him, but really the Great Incom- 
petent of the War, Commander-in-chief in place of 
Washington. Fortunately these intrigues were repudiated 
by the army, and the great majority of the best-citizens, and 
utterly failed of their purpose. 

Washington bore these plots against him with the calm 
dignity that might have been expected, and earnestly de- 
voted himself to his pressing duties. 

He made his home with Isaac Potts. One day Potts was 
walking up a creek, which wound through the woods near 
his house, when he heard a person's voice. He stopped and 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 107 

listened ; some one was praying near him. Stealing among 
the trees, he saw Washington on his knees, pleading with 
heaven to save his beloved country. In telling the incident 
to his wife. Potts said : " If there is any one to whom God 
will listen, it is George Washington, and under such a com- 
mander our independence is certain." 

Propositions from England ^ About this time Eng- 
land proposed terms, which would have been gladly ac- 
cepted if they had been made before the breaking out of the 
war ; but now the colonists were determined to accept noth- 
ing short of absolute independence, and even in this dark- 
hour, when. success seemed so doubtful, they promptly and 
emphatically rejected the proposal of the English connnis- 
sioners. 

Bribery was tried, and a British emissary offered Gen- 
eral Reed, of Pennsylvania, ten thousand guineas and high 
honors if he would use his influence to bring about a recon- 
ciliation. He made the noble reply : " I am not worth 
purchasing, but such as I am the king of Great Britain is 
not rich enough to buy me." 

Burgoyne's Campaign and Surrender The British 

made an able plan for capturing the entire State of New 
York. General Burgoyne was to move on Albany by way 
of Lake Champlain and the Hudson. 

A second expedition was to land at Oswego, capture Fort 
vStanwix in Central New York, and join Burgoyne at 
Albany. To complete the plan, General Plowe was to 
ascend the Hudson from New York, and join these united 
forces. 

But the execution was not at all equal to the ability of the 
plan. 

Burgoyne advanced down the Pludson with a well- 
equipped army of 8000 men, and was ably opposed by 



108 SCHOOL TILSTORY OF THE UXITED STATES. 

General Schuyler, whose force was, however, much inferior 
to that of the enemy. 

St. Leger marched from Oswego, with Tories and In- 
dians added to his column, but while besieging Fort Schuy- 
ler (formerly Fort Stanwix) he was outwitted and defeated 
by Arnold, and fled in a panic. The outrages and cruelties 
of the Indians — especially the brutal murder of Miss Jane 
McCrae, a beautiful young woman, who was engaged to be 
married to a British officer — greatly aroused the colonists, 
and promoted enlistments in the patriot army. 

A column under Colonel Baum, sent to destroy stores 
collected at Bennington, Vt., was met by General Stark, with 
a hastily collected force of " Green Mountain Boys," before 
it could cross the Vermont line, and completely routed, 
with a loss of 600 prisoners. 

Burgoyne fought a fierce but indecisive battle with the 
Americans at Bonis HcigJifs, near Saratoga, September 
19th. 

Meantime General Schuyler, whose able plans had re- 
sulted so favorably to the Americans, had been superseded 
by General Horatio Gates just as his efforts were about to 
be crowned with victory. 

Burgoyne waited for tlie coming of Howe, who was held 
in Philadelphia by Washington, and seeing that he was 
surrounded, and that his provisions were running short, he 
made, on October 7th, a fierce attack on the American 
lines, which might have proven successful but for the heroic 
fighting of Arnold, and Morgan, whom Gates designed to 
keep out of the battle, but who won a great victory while 
Gates " sulked in his tent." 

In his official report Gates made no mention of either 
Arnold or Morgan — but impartial history gives these 
brave men the credit of this victory. 

After this tattle Burgoyne fell back to Saratoga, but he 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED IMITATES. lOD 

was surrounded, his supplies were cut off, food and annnu- 
nition and even water failed him, his camp was conmianded 
by the American batteries, and all hope having been gone, 
he surrendered on October 17th, 1777, accepting the very 
generous terms offered him by the victors, which were that 
his army should be paroled not to serve against the Ameri- 
cans again, and returned to England. 

EVENTS OF 1778. 

Aid from France — The victory over Burgoyne gave 
France the excuse she was waiting for to aid the Americans. 
She acknowledged our independence, loaned us money, sent 
military stores, and promised to help us with a fleet. The 
news of the sailing of a French fleet so alarmed England 
that she ordered the army in Philadelphia to join the Brit- 
ish forces in New York. Howe had gone home, and 
Clinton now commanded in Philadelphia. 

Battle of Monmouth Court House Clinton started 

overland, with Washington in pursuit, who overtook the 
British at Monmouth Court House, New Jersey, June 28. 
It was one of the hottest days of the season. General 
Charles Lee was to have led the attack, but he ordered a 
retreat. Washington came upon the field at the critical 
moment, and, in a towering rage, ordered Lee to the rear. 
Then tlie Commander-in-chief took immediate charge and 
fought the battle witli his usual skill. When darkness 
came, Clinton stole away with his men to New York. It 
has since been charged that General Lee, while serving in 
the patriot army, was a traitor, and did what he could to 
help the enemy. He was afterwards dismissed from the 
service for insubordination. 

Molly Pitcher While the battle was going on, 

" Molly Pitcher " busied herself carrying water from a 



110 



HCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Spring to her husband, who had charge of a cannon. She 
saw him shot down, and heard an officer order the piece 
removed. Molly dropped her pail, ran to the cannon, 
seized the rammer and continued loading and firing the gun 
throughout the battle. Washington praised her for her 
bravery, made her a sergeant, and Congress granted her 




MOLLV PITCHER AT THE BATTLE OF MONMOUTH. 



balf-pay for life. This incident is shown on the monument 
which was erected some years ago on the battle-ground. 

Failure of the French Fleet The French fleet ar- 
rived July 29, and entered Narragansett bay. It went out 
to engage the English fleet under Howe, but a storm scat- 
tered all the vessels. General Sullivan, who was to help in 
the land attack on Newport, barely escaped capture by 
Clinton, who had hurried from New York with a large force 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Ill 

to attack him. No further aid was given by the French 
fleet that year. 

Massacre of Wyoming. — The fourth of July, Colonel 
John Butler led a band of Indians and Tories into the beau- 
tiful " Vale of Wyoming," in the valley of the Susquehanna, 
and routing and cutting to pieces the small patriot forces 
opposed to them, proceeded to massacre the old men, 
women and children in the most horrible manner. 

Virginia's Conquest of the Northwest. — The North- 
west Territory l)elonged to \ irginia under original grant 
in her charter, but the British now held it, having estab- 
lished strong posts in commanding positions all over the 
territory, from whence they encouraged the Indians to 
make forays on the white settlements along the frontier. 

The Continental Congress could spare no troops to re- 
conquer this territory, though appealed to by Virginia to 
do so, and the Governor, Patrick Henry, accepted the ear- 
nestly proffered services of George Rogers Clarke, of Albe- 
marle county, who enlisted volunteers, chiefly in the western 
counties, and in what is now the State of Kentucky. He 
marched into that region, and by real ability, rare skill and 
heroic courage, and patience in bearing every hardship 
and privation, captured forts Kaskaskla, and Vlnccmics, and 
other posts, and floated the flag of the " Old Dominion " 
over the whole of that " Northwestern Territory," it being 
named Illinois county, Virginia. The result of the retaking 
of this vast territory was that when peace came the British 
boundary line was forced back to the lakes, instead of com- 
ing down to the Ohio River, as otherwise it might have, 
and the State of Virginia had a clear title to this vast 
domain out of which the States of Ohio. Illinois. Indiana. 
Wisconsin, Michigan and a part of Minnesota were after- 
wards carved. 



112 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The South Overrun Having done so little in the 

North, England now turned her efforts to the South. She 
met with so much success that by the close of the year 
Savannah was captured, and Georgia overrun. Among the 
killed during the assault on Savannah were the valiant Ser- 
geant Jasper and the I'olish patriot, Count Pulaski. 

EVENTS OF 1779. 

Success of the Enemy in the South Georgia was 

not only overrun, but the royal Governor was restored to 
power. England could claim that at least one of her colo- 
nies had been brought back under the crown. An attack 
on Savannah by General Lincoln, and the French fleet was 
repulsed. There was fighting in the North, but nothing of 
moment took place. It may be said that in 1779 the strug- 
gle for American independence became languid. 

The War on the Ocean. — When the war broke out 
few had any thought of making a fight against England on 
the ocean, where she had long been mistress. A number of 
privateers, however, were fitted out to sail along the New 
England coast. Congress established a naval depot, and 
the privateers did fine service. Five hundred ships of the 
enemy were captured during the first three years of the 
Revolution. 

Paul Jones was one of the bravest men that ever lived. 
He was placed in command of a squadron of five vessels, 
fitted out by the American Commissioners in Paris. He 
encountered on the coast of England, on September 23d, 
the Scrapis, and the Countess of Scarborough, in charge of a. 
fleet of English merchantmen. A desperate fight at close 
quarters ensued, and at the end of two hours the Scrapis 
lowered her colors, and Jones had only time to transfer his; 
crew and his wounded to that vessel, when his own ship, 
the Bon Homme Richard^ which was in flames and riddled, 



114 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UMTED STATES. 

went to the bottom. Jones took his rich prizes to Hol- 
land, and afterwards made many other captures. 

EVENTS OF 1780. 

The Treason of Arnold.^ A shocking event took 
place in the summer of 1780. Benedict Arnold was one of 
the bravest men that ever drew a sword, and did splendid 
service for the patriot cause. But he had an evil temper, 
with bad habits, and married a Tory lady in Philadelphia. 
He made up his mind to betray his country, for which he 
was promised a large sum of money, and a General's com- 
mission in the British army. 

Arnold was in command of West Point, at that time one 
of the strongest posts in the colonies. He agreed to sur- 
render it and the garrison to Sir Henry Clinton, the English 
commander at New York. In so delicate and important a 
matter, it was necessary that an officer should meet Arnold 
and arrange the details. Clinton sent Major xA.ndre to per- 
form the dangerous task. 

Andre went up the Hudson in a British sloop, and landed 
below Haverstraw, where Arnold was waiting on the bank. 
They talked a long time and arranged everything. Arnold 
gave Andre a map of the fortifications at West Point, and 
Andre placed the papers inside one of his stockings. He 
also got a pass from Arnold, to use in case he should be 
stopped by any Americans. 

While Andre and the traitor were talking ^together, an 
American battery opened fire on the English sloop and 
compelled her to drop down stream. When Andre came 
to the shore, therefore, he saw that the vessel was beyond 
reach. He was anxious to get back to New York, so he 
put on the dress of a farmer, got a horse and started to ride 
thither. 

The young officer reached Tarrytown, and perhaps was 



SCHOOL HLSTORY OF THE UNITED STATED. 115 

thinking of the deathblow he was helping to give to the 
cause of American independence, when three patriots, at the 
side of the road, stopped him and asked his business. One 
of the three had on a British coat. This led Andre to be- 
lieve they were his friends, and he made known that he was 
a British of^cer. 

He quickly discovered his mistake, but it was too late. 
Arnold's papers were found on him, and then his business 
and character were fully known. He offered a large bribe 
to the Americans to let him go, but they refused, and sent 
him to Washington. Through a blunder, Andre was given 
a chance to warn Arnold, who escaped to the sloop and 
reached New York. 

A good deal of pity was felt for Andre, but his fate, 
though hard, was just. He was tried by court-martial and 
hanged, October 2. Arnold received the payment agreed 
upon for his treason, and afterwards did all he could against 
his native country. 

THE WAR IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 

Capture of Charleston After the failure of the at- 
tack on Savannah, the French fleet sailed back to France. 
General Lincoln occupied Charleston with what troops he 
could collect, and Sir Henry Clinton, from New York, 
landed a large force thirty miles below the city on February 
nth, 1780, and surrounded it by March 20th. 

General Huger (hii-je). marching to relieve Charleston, 
was defeated at Monk's Corner by the ubiquitous Colonel 
Tarleton. On May 12th, General Lincoln, seeing no hope 
of relief, surrendered the city and five thousand troops. 

The British troops now overran the whole State of South 
Carolina, and Clinton, supposing the work of subjugation 
complete, proclaimed that South Carolina had been won 



116 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

back to the crown, left Cornwallis in command, and re- 
turned to New York. 
Partisan Warfare and Partisan Leaders But the 

indomitable patriots of the " Palmetto State " carried on a 
very bold and successful partisan warfare, and such leaders 
as Marion, Sumter, Pickens, Clarke, Washington, Horry, 




GENERAL MAKIiiN INVITING A BRITISH OFFICER TO DINNER. 

" Light Horse Harry Lee " of Virginia and' others per- 
formed deeds which live in the traditions, and histories of 
the times, and read like romance. 

A famous story is told of Marion, " the Swamp Fox," 
who invited a British of^cer to dine with him, and had to 
set before him only roasted sweet potatoes, served in bark 
for plates, and on a- log for a table. 

At Hanging Rock, August 7th, Sumter, " the Game 



8CB00L BTSTORY OF THE UNITED STATE."^. 117 

Cock," defeated a body of Uritish regulars, and captured a 
number of prisoners. 

Tarleton surprised and routed Sumter at Fishing Creek, 
August 17th, 1780; but Sumter retaliated by defeating 
Tarleton at Blackstocks, November 20th. 

Battle of Camden. — Gates, against the advice of Wash- 
ington, was appointed by Congress to command the South- 
ern armies, and promptly advanced into South Carolina. 

Cornwallis met him at Saunders' Creek, near Camden, 
and a fierce battle ensued in which Gates was routed. 

Baron de Kalb was the hero of the day, and his com- 
mand made a stubborn fight until he fell pierced with 
eleven wounds. 

Gates himself did not stop his flight until he reached 
Charlotte, N. C, sixty miles from the battlefield. 

Not long after, Gates was superseded by General Nathan- 
iel Greene, who was regarded by many as next to Wash- 
ington the best American General produced by the 
Revolution. 

King's Mountain Cornwallis advanced to Charlotte, 

N. C, and sent Colonel Ferguson to gather the royalists of 
the mountains of Western North Carolina. He soon had 
a body of 1200, well armed and equipped, strongly posted 
on King's Alountain. 

There was a prompt gathering of patriots from the bor- 
ders of Kentucky, Southwestern Virginia, Tennessee, 
Georgia, and the Carolinas, under Colonels Campbell, Mc- 
Dowell, Cleveland, Williams, Sevier, and Shelby. Colonel 
Campbell was put in chief command, and selecting goo of 
the best mounted and equipped men, he marched fifty miles, 
through darkness and mud, in eighteen hours, and sur- 
prised and surrounded Ferguson's position. After a des- 
perate struggle, in which Ferguson and 150 of his men 
were killed, and 200 wounded, the next ofBcer in command 



118 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

raised the white flag, and surrendered 8io prisoners, and a 
large num.ber of extra arms. The patriots had only twenty 
men killed and lOO wounded. 

This brilliant victory not only put fresh courage and hope 
into the hearts of the patriots, but compelled Cornwallis to 
abandon his plan for the subjugation of North Carolina, 
and fall back to Winnsboro, S. C. 

Battle of the Cowpens Greene sent General Daniel 

Morgan — the real " hero of Saratoga," to aid the patriots 
in the mountains of Western North Carolina. 

Tarleton, in the full confidence of victory, attacked Mor- 
gan at The Cozvpcns. 

The fiercely contested battle that followed resulted in the 
rout of Tarleton, who lost no officers and men killed, 200 
wounded, and nearly 600 taken prisoners. Morgan's loss 
was only twelve killed and sixty wounded. 

Colonel William Washington, who, a short time before, 
at Clermont, had (by boldness and a clever piece of strat- 
egy), captured Colonel Rugely and no men, and who, with 
his Dragoons, rendered most important service on many 
occasions, was especially conspicuous at Cowpens. He 
made a final charge which routed the enemy, wounded 
Tarleton in the hand in a close encounter, and pursued him 
so vigorously that the proud Briton only escaped capture 
by the fieetness of his horse. 

Green's "Fabian Policy." — General Greene, in imita- 
tion of his loved Chieftain and friend, George Washington, 
determined to pursue the Fabian policy, that is, to follow 
the example of the Roman General Fabius, and retreat 
before his enemy until he was sure of striking him success- 
fully. Accordingly he rode 100 miles across the country to 
join Morgan, united his column with his -own, and steadily 
fell back before the advance of Cornwallis until he had 
crossed the Dan into Virginia. 



8CB00L HISTOEY OF THE UNITED STATES. 119 

The patriotic spirit of " the old North State " may be il- 
lustrated by the conduct of JVIrs. Elizabeth Steele, in Salis- 
bury, who brought Greene two bags of coin, which she liad 
saved, and insisted upon his taking them, saying : " You 
zvill need them, and I can do zviihoiit tJicni/' 

Battle of Guilford Court House As soon as Corn- 

wallis ceased his pursuit, Greene sent Pickens and Lee with 
a small force of Cavalry and light Infantry to hang on his 
rear, and flanks, and on the 23d of February, 1781, he re- 
crossed the Dan with his whole army, and marched towards 
Guilford Court House. 

Meantime Lee and Pickens attacked a body of 400 
mounted Tories, and killed and wounded nearly 300 of 
them ; and " Light Horse Harry " defeated and routed 
Tarleton near New Garden. 

The battle of Guilford Court House (now Greensboro), 
N. C, was fought on the 15th of March, 1781, and was an 
obstinate and bloody battle, which Cornwallis claimed as a 
victory, since Greene retreated at the close of the fight. 
But as Cornwallis lost 532 killed and wounded, nearly a 
third of his whole army, and among them a very large pro- 
portion of his best officers, it was, at least, a very dearly 
bought victory. He felt obliged to retreat — leaving his 
wounded behind — and Greene was soon in pursuit. 

Cornwallis continued his retreat to Wilmington, and 
Greene determined to regain the Carolinas and Georgia. 

He pushed into South Carolina, and after the battles of 
Hobkivk's Hill, Ninety Six, and Eutaiv Springs, Wilmington, 
Charleston, and Savannah were the only posts in the Caro- 
linas, or Georgia occupied by the British. 

General Pickens and Colonel Clarke had captured Au- 
gusta in June. 

Two incidents illustrating the spirit of the women of 
South Carolina may be given : When Greene wished to 



120 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE VNtTED STATES. 

send a message to Sumter through a country so infested 
with British and Tories that it seemed impossible for a cour- 
ier to escape capture, Aliss Emily Gcigcr, a bright girl of 
eighteen, volunteered to carry a dispatch, and a verbal mes- 
sage, and when stopped by Tories, she swallowed the 
dispatch, and by rare tact, courage, and perseverance 
reached Sumter with the important message. 

The house of Mrs. Mottc was so located as to obstruct 
the attack of the patriots upon Fort Motte. She not only 
cheerfully consented to the destruction of her beautiful 
home, but gave active aid in burning it, and heartily re- 
joiced in the capture of the fort. 

The execution of Isaae Haync by Lord Rawdon was a foul 
blot on the record of that General, excited wide indigna- 
tion, and would doubtless have brought stern retaliation 
but for the early close of the war. 

Campaign in Virginia In January, 1781, Virginia 

was invaded by Arnold, who seemed to delight, after he 
turned traitor, in marauding expeditions, and who now 
captured Richmond, and desolated the country as far as he 
was able. He fell back to Portsmouth, where General 
Phillips with 2000 men joined him the latter part of March, 
and took command of the expedition. 

After a stout resistance by Baron Steuben, with a thou- 
sand Virginia militia, Phillips occupied Petersburg, where 
he destroyed a large quantity of tobacco, burned a number 
of vessels at Osborne's, and advanced on Richmond, burn- 
ing 1200 hogsheads of tobacco at Manchester. 

Lafayette had been put in command in Virginia, and 
held Richmond, though with an inferior force, so stoutly 
that Phillips retreated to Petersburg, where a short time 
afterwards he died of fever, leaving Arnold in command. 

But Cornwallis had determined to invade Virginia, and 
soon made his headquarters at Petersburg. 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 121 

Arnold was relieved and went to New York, whence he 
was soon after sent on a very disgraceful marauding expe- 
dition into Connecticut, his native State. 

Cornwallis determined now to ravage and lay waste 
" the Old Dominion," and to capture, if possible, many of 
her leading men. 

Accordingly he sent Simcoe to destroy stores collected 
at " Point of Fork " (now Columbia), and followed him 
there himself, and he sent Tarleton to capture Jefiferson 
at his home (iMoniiccilo), and the Legislature then in session 
at Charlottesville. The expedition was a failure, except so 
far as the destruction of property was concerned. This 
was very effectually done, and it is estimated that the devas- 
tations of Arnold, Phillips, and Cornwallis in the destruc- 
tion or carrying off of property amounted to about fourteen 
iiiillion dollars. 

Thirty thousand slaves were carried ofif. and it is esti- 
mated that within six months twenty-seven thousand of 
these died of small-pox or camp fever. 

Siege of Yorktown, and Surrender of Cornwallis. — 
Cornwallis received instruction from Sir Henry Clinton to 
take position near deep water in order that he might be in 
position to go to his help if W^ashington should attempt 
the capture of New York, as he believed he would. Ac- 
cordingly, Cornwallis, followed by Lafayette, fell back to 
Williamsburg, whence he went to Portsmouth, and by the 
22d of August had occupied and fortified Yorktown, at the 
mouth of York river. 

Washington had really purposed an attack on New York, 
and had laid plans with the French military and naval com- 
manders for that purpose. 

But learning the situation in A^irginia. he decided to move 
against Cornwallis instead, and accordingly the combined 



122 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

French and American armies in New Jersey rapidly moved 
south. 

Before he joined Lafayette, Washington rejoiced to learn 
that Count De Grasse had entered the Chesapeake with his 
fleet, and land forces, and thus Cornwallis was cut ol¥ from 
help, or escape. 

Washington by the middle of September had surrounded 
Cornwallis with an army of 16,000 troops, composed of 
7000 French under Rochambeau, 5500 Continentals under 
Lafayette, and 3500 Virginia militia under Governor Nel- 
son, who had raised them by his own exertions, and patriot- 
ically spent his large fortune in equipping and provisioning 
them. 

The American and French troops vied with each other in 
gallantly carrying by assault several redoubts, and pressing 
the siege. 

When Governor Nelson saw that there was a hesitancy 
on the part of the artillerists in striking his splendid old 
mansion in Yorktown, which sheltered a number of British 
ofificers, he patriotically urged them to batter it down, 
and ofifered a reward of five guineas to the first gunner who 
should strike it. The cannon ball which soon crashed 
through the walls left marks which still remain as interest- 
ing souvenirs of the siege. 

Cornwallis was a brave, and able soldier, and the idea of 
surrender was deeply mortifying to his pride, but when all 
hope of reinforcements, or of escape had fled, he,determined 
to avoid the further efifusion of blood by raising the white 
flag, which he did October 19th, 1781. 

Seven thousand and seventy-three English soldiers were 
surrendered. The English ships, and seamen were sur- 
rendered to Count De Grasse. 

The End of the Revolution The scene will always 

be a memorable one in American history. It brought the 



HCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITHD ;>!TATES. 



123 



end of the Revolution, and secured to us our independence. 
The army was drawn up in two Hnes, extending more than 
a mile. On one side were the French, with Rochambeau at 
their head ; on the other were Washington and his staff. 
The British army, with slow step, shouldered arms and 




SILKRENDER OF CORNWALLIS. 



furled flags, marched between the lines. General Corn- 
wallis was so mortified that he pretended to be ill, and sent 
his sword by General O'Hara. General Lincoln, who had 
been forced to surrender Charleston the year before, re- 
ceived the sword of Cornwallis from OTTara. 

A messenger mounted a swift horse, and started for Phil- 
adelphia with the news. It was a long ride, but he reached 



124 tSCUOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

the city, at the dead of night, four days later. The citizens 
were roused from sleep by fhe shouting of the watchman : 
" Past 2 o'clock, and Cornwallis is taken ! " The whole cit> 
was quickly astir and wild with delight. The aged door- 
keeper of Congress dropped dead with joy. 

Congress came together at an early hour, and, in the 
afternoon, marched to the Lutheran church, where they 
gave thanks to God for saving the Republic. Business was 
at a standstill, and nothing was talked about or thought of 
except the glorious tidings that the American colonies had 
won their independence. 

Our Independence Acknowledged by England 

England saw that all hope of conquering her American col- 
onies was at an end. She, therefore, made a treaty of peace 
with them, November 30, 1782. The final treaty was 
signed at Paris, Septem^ber 3, following. Washington re- 
signed his command of the army, bade adieu to his officers, 
and went 'back to Mount \'ernon, hoping he would be al- 
lowed to remain there and spend the rest of his days in 
peace. 

It is worth noting that England did not acknowledge the 
independence of the American Nation, but of each one of the 
thirteen colonies, mentioning each l)y name, and recogniz- 
ing that each one became a Sozrrcign, Independent State. 

Inequality of the Contest — ^ It is not surprising that 
some of the wisest, and most patriotic of the American lead- 
ers should have hesitated to undertake a war with England, 
then the most powerful nation in the world, and it is really 
doubtful what the issue would have been had not England 
been engaged at the time in war with other nations, and had 
not France given the colonies the material aid we have 
noted. 

The population of the United Colonies at the beginning 
of the war was only about two million five hundred thou- 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 125 

sand whites, while Great Britain had a population of about 
ten million. England was rich in- resources, raising taxes 
amounting to ten niilhon pounds, and having factories, 
which turned out everything necessary to equip armies. 
The colonies were poor, unable to raise, even with the best 
system of taxation, one fifth of the annual income of Great 
Britain, and deficient in factories of every description. 
England had the finest navy of the world, and could draw 
supplies, and hire troops wherever she wished. Her armies 
were trained veterans, commanded by able, educated 
officers. 

The colonies had- no navy, and the armies they raised 
were undisciplined, afifected by sectional jealousies, ready 
to disband at their own pleasure, or that of the particular 
colony from which they came, and always poorly armed, 
and equipped, and frequently unpaid, half starved, and in 
rags. 

But all of these difficulties were overcome by the ability 
of Washington, and other leaders, and the sturdy courage, 
and indomitable patriotism of the people. 

And especially God's overruling Providence gave success 
to the American arms, and enabled our fathers to establish 
this great Republic in " the land of the free, and the home 
of the brave." 

Disaffection in tlie Army Pending the negotiations 

for peace, there arose great disaffection in the army, grow- 
ing out of a rumor that the soldiers were to go without 
their pay, and that the army was to be disbanded. 

There was widely circulated in the army an incendiary 
appeal urging the soldiers not to consent to be disbanded, 
but to make Washington King, or Dictator, and demand 
their rights. The disalTection was quieted by the influence 
and active efforts of Washington, who, the latter part of 
November, 1783, issued a beautiful farewell address to the 



126 SCHOOL HlkiTOKY OF THE UNITED STATEIS. 

army, and on Decenvber the 4th, 1783, in New York, took 
a touching leave of his principal officers. 

Sad Condition of the People. — At the close of the 
Revolution, though there was great rejoicing over the In- 
dependence of the colonies, the land was poverty-stricken, 
and the Government bankrupt. 

Continental currency had become utterly worthless, loans 
from Spain, Holland, and France, and from individuals, had 
ceased, the States refused to honor the calls of Congress, 
and the sad condition of affairs among the people may be 
illustrated by the statement that Robert Morris, of Penn- 
sylvania, who had sacrificed the last of his great fortune to 
sustain the Government, was sent to jail on account of his 
private debts. 

But we shall see how soon, under better management, 
prosperity began to smile on the land, and bless the new 
Republic. 

Questions.— Give an account of the battle of Bunker Hill. Of 
Washington as commander-in-chief, and the condition of his army. 
Attempt on Canada. Operations in the South. The evacuation of 
Boston. British attack on Charleston, S. C. History of the Dec- 
laration of Independence. Articles of Confederation. Campaign 
in New York. Of the defeat of Washington. Of the retreat 
through New Jersey. Give the story of Nathan Hale, the patriot 
martyr. Of the battle of Trenton. Describe the battle of Prince- 
ton. What is said of Lafayette? Describe the campaign in Penn- 
sylvania in 1777. Describe the patriot army at Valley Forge. 
Surrender of Burgoyne. Describe the battle of Monmouth Court 
House. Tell the story of Molly Pitcher. What i§ said of the 
failure of the French fleet? Describe the massacre in the Wyom- 
ing Valley. Virginia's conquest of the Northwestern Territory. 
What of the overrunning of the South? Describe the great naval 
victory of Paul Jones. Relate the story of Arnold's treason. What 
of the capture of Charleston? Partisan warfare, and partisan lead- 
ers? Gates in command, and his defeat at Camden? King's 
Mountain? Battle of the Cowpens? Green's retreat? Cornwallis' 
"victory" at Guilford Court House? Cornwallis in Virginia, and 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 127 

his maneuvers with Lafayette, and ravages of the country? His 
position at the mouth of the York? Washington's plans? Sur- 
render of Cornwallis? Independence acknowledged by England? 
Washington's farewell to his army, and his officers? 



CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY OF EVENTS. 

A. D. PAGE. 

760. The Navigation Act passed 81 

733. Importation Act passed 81 

750. England forbade the manufacture of iron and steel 81 

765. The Stamp Act passed 83 

767. Tax imposed on tea 85 

773. The Boston Tea Party, December 16 85 

774. First Continental Congress met in Philadelphia 87 

775. The battle of Lexington, April 19 91 

775. Battle of Bunker Hill, June 17 93 

776. British evacuated Boston, March 17 97 

776. Declaration of Independence, July 4 99 

776. Battle of Long Island, August 27 102 

776. Battle of White Plains, October 28 102 

776. Fort Washington taken, November 16 103 

776. Battle of Trenton, December 26 104 

777. Battle of Princeton, January 3. 104 

777. Battle of Brandywine, September 11 106 

777- Philadelphia occupied by the British, September 26 106 

777. Battle of Germantowri, October 4 106 

777. Burgoyne surrendered, October 17 109 

778. France acknowledged American independence 109 

778. Battle of Monmouth Court House, June 28 109 

778. Arrival of the French fleet, July 29 no 

779. Attack on Savannah by the French fleet, and General 

Lincoln repulsed, October 9 112 

779. Paul Jones's great naval victory, September 23 112 

780. Charleston captured by the British, May 12 115 

780. Treason of Benedict Arnold 114 

781. Battle of the Cowpens, January 17 118 

781. Battle of Guilford Court House, March 15 119 

781. Patriot victory at Eutaw Springs, September 8 iig 

781. Surrender of Cornwallis, October 19 122 



128 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

PART lY. 

The Building of the Union (1781-1860.) 

CHAPTER XIII. 
THE FORMATIVE PERIOD. 

Settlement in the West. — The development of the 
colonies did not remain wholly at a standstill during the 
Revolution. The enterprising, adventurous character of 
the Americans can never be suppressed by circumstances. 
Previous to the breaking out of hostilities, Daniel Boone 
made his way alone to the wilds of Kentuck}', whose rich 
virgin soil and abundance of game so charmed him that he 
soon took thither his own family and a number of pioneers. 
The reports brought back by hunters and trappers attracted 
others thither. The present State of Tennessee was invaded 
by these emigrants, who put up cabins, erected stockades, 
cleared and tilled the ground, and organized their own 
forms of government, until, before the close of the century, 
25,000 settlers had located west of the Alleghenies. They 
suffered greatly from the hostilities of the Indians, but the 
energy, and resolution of the pioneers soon overcame all 
obstacles, and the West began its amazing career of pros- 
perity, growth and development. 

On the Verge of Anarchy. — The United States had 
gained its independence, but the separate States were in a 
woful plight. The people were poor, commerce was ruined 
and trade destroyed. The only power possessed by Con- 
gress was that of recommending the respective States to 
adopt certain measures ; there was no means of enforcing 



SCHOOL HhSTOKY OF THE UNITED STATEti. 129 

these recommendations, and the States paid Httle, if any, 
heed to the wishes of the general government. The Arti- 
cles of Confederation agreed to in 1777 were too defective 
to meet the wants of the young States. 

The Population. — At the close of the Revolution, the 
Southern States contained a little more than 1,000,000 
people, while there were 1,500,000 north of Mason and 
Dixon's line. Virginia, with its population of 400,000, sur- 
passed every other State. Pennsylvania and Massachusetts 
each had about 350,000. The most populous cities were 
Philadelphia (40,000), Boston (20,000), New York (14,000). 

Organization of the Northwestern Territory There 

having arisen complaint among some of the smaller States 
that Virginia would have overwhelming influence and con- 
trol in the Confederation as soon as her vast territory 
should be settled, and Maryland especially refusing on that 
account to sign the Articles of Confederation, the Old 
Dominion, with self-denying patriotism, and prodio"al liber- 
ality, gaz'C to the Confederation her Northwestern Terri- 
tory, to which she had indisputable claim both by grant in 
her charters, and by the fact that her troops, unaided by the 
General Government, had rescued it from British control. 
She, also, of her own motion, proposed that slavery be ex- 
cluded from this territory. 

Another interesting point connected with this North- 
western Territory is that, in 1785, the proceeds of one sec- 
tion of the public lands in every township were set apart for 
school purposes, and formed the foundation of the " school 
fund " of the States formed out of it, so that it may be said, 
in all fairness and justice, that the magnificent school sys- 
tem which has been the pride of those great States was 
really the gift of old Jlrgiiiia. 

Congress organized this territory by the famous " Ordi- 
nance of 1/8/,'' as it was called, and which has been re- 



130 SCHOOL Him'OHY OF THE UNITED ISTATE8. 

garded ever since as a model for the organization of the 
territories of the United States. 

It is proper to add that other States, such as Maryland, 
New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut and South Carolina 
made to the general government gifts of small areas of 
their Western territory, while North Carolina gave territory 
which formed the State of Tennessee, and Georgia sold at 
a small price the princely domain extending from the 
Chattahoochee to the Mississippi river. 

But none of these gifts was comparable to that of the 
Old Dominion. 

Shays's Rebellion Where everything was so dis- 
turbed and the government so weak, there was sure to be 
disorder. In Massachusetts, Daniel Shays, formerly a Cap- 
tain in the American army, led a mob of 2000 men, in 1787, 
against the government of Massachusetts, with the purpose 
of compelling it to abolish taxes, and issue a large amount 
of paper money. They dispersed the Suoreme Court, sit- 
ting at Springfield ; but General Lincoln, with a large force 
of militia, replaced the judges in their seats and fired upon 
the mob. The rioters fled in dismay, and the rebellion was 
ended. The ringleaders were tried and condemned to 
death, but in the end all were pardoned. 

The Convention of 1787. — While Shays's rebellion 
caused widespread alarm, it produced good results. Wash- 
ington, as well as all patriots, saw that a strong, firm and 
responsible Central Government must be organized without 
delay. A number of citizens of Maryland and Vir.s^inia held 
a consultation with him at Mount Vernon, in March. 1785, 
with the result that commissioners from the leading States 
met at Annapolis the followinc: year. The outcome of this 
assemblage was the calling of a national convention at Phil- 
adelphia in May, 1787. At the appointed time every State, 
except Rhode Island, was represented. 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 131 

Adoption of the Constitution Washington presided 

at this convention, which was composed of the ablest men 
of the several States. On the 17th of September, the Con- 
stitution of the United States was adopted. Since this 
admirable document will probably be the supreme law of 
the land through ages to come, its distinctive features 
should be understood by every one. (See Appendix.) 

Provisions of the Constitution. — The United States 
government includes three departments : Legislative, Exec- 
utive, and Judicial. The Legislative consists of Congress, 
composed of the Senate and House of Representatives. 
The members of the latter are elected directly by the peo- 
ple, and hold office for two years. The Legislature of each 
State elects two L^nitcd States Senators, who hold office six 
years. The chief points considered in forming the Consti- 
tution were to have a government which should be strong 
enough to preserve order at home and respect abroad, and, 
at the same time, allow local self-government, and the regu- 
lation of its own internal affairs to each State. 

It was thought by the able and patriotic men who formu- 
lated the Constitution "that these objects had been accom- 
plished by making the representation in the House 
dependent upon population, and giving to each State, little 
Rhode Island and Virginia or New York, regardless of ter- 
ritory or population, equal representation in the Senate, and 
by providing that '' oil f^oivcrs not expressly granted to the 
General Government zvcrc reserved by the States.'" 

The Executive department consists of the President, 
chosen every four years by the electoral votes of the States, 
and it is his duty to see the laws enforced. 

The Judicial power of the United States is vested in a 
Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as Congress 
mav establish. 

The Ratification of the Constitution. — There was 
strong opposition to the adoption of the Constitution on the 



132 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

part of those who thought that too much power was given 
the General Government, and on the part of some who did 
not think it had power enough. 

Provision was made that the Constitution adopted by the 
general convention should be ratified by Congress, and then 
submitted for ratification to conventions of each State, and 
should go into operation, as to those States, when nine of 
them had ratified it. 

There was high debate in these State conventions be- 
tween the " Federalists " and " Anti-Federalists," as the 
opposing parties were called, but during the year 1788 
eleven of the States adopted the Constitution, and it went 
into operation early the next year in all of these States, 
leaving out North Carolina, which did not ratify until 1789, 
and Rhode Island, which ratified only in 1790. 

It is important to notice that the new Union was formed 
by the secession of eleven States from the old Federation ; 
that several of the States, in ratifying the Constitution, 
distinctly reserved the right of secession, thereby giving the 
right to all of the States; that it would have been impossible 
to form the Union without recognizing the right of a State 
to withdraw at pleasure; and that in those days the ric^ht of 
secession was universally acknowledged. 

The First Presidential Election. — The first presi- 
dential election in this country was lield January, 1789. The 
electors met shortly- afterwards, and by a unanimous vote 
selected George Washington, President, and John Adams, 
of Massachusetts, Vice-President. This was against the 
wishes of Washington, who hoped to spend the remainder 
of his days at his home at Mount Vernon ; but he was too 
pure and exalted a patriot not to heed the call of his coun- 
trymen. He bade good-bye to his beloved home, and set 
out on his long journey to New York city, then the capital. 

This ride was one of the most remarkable ever made : 



SCHOOL IILSTORY OF TUB UNITED STATEfi. 133 

the Father of his Country was welcomed everywhere with 
the highest honors. Cannon boomed, fireworks and illumi- 
nations lit the heavens at night, thousands of children sang 
his praises, flowers were strewn before his horse, men 
cheered and shouted, and all crowded forward to do hom- 
age to one of the greatest and best men that was ever born 
into this world. With fitting ceremonies, he was inaugu- 
rated first President, April 30, 1789. 

Questions. — What famous pioneer visited and settled in Ken- 
tucky before the close of the Revolution? Show the vvoful plight 
of our country when its independence was gained. What about 
the Northwestern Territory? Give a history of Shay's Rebellion. 
What led up to the Convention of 1787? When was the Constitu- 
tion adopted? Give its distinctive provisions. Ratification of the 
Constitution. What of the first presidential election? 

GFIAPTER XIV. 
WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION. (1789-1797.) 

George Washington 

George Washington was born 
in Westmoreland county, Vir- 
ginia, February 22, i72>2- Left 
fatherless at the age of eleven, 
the care of the son fell to his 
mother, a woman of rare 
strength of mind and force of 
character. He had but one 
brother, Lawrence, who was 
older than he. George was 
educated in the old-fashioned 
country school of the times. 
He early showed a fondness for military matters, and pos- 
sessed the confidence of his playmates so fully that they 




134 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

selected him to settle their disputes, and his decisions were 
never questioned. At the age of sixteen, he was so expert 
a surveyor that he was employed for three years in survey- 
ing an immense mountainous tract belonging to Lord Fair- 
fax. He did the work to the highest satisfaction of his 
employer. His part in the French and Indian War and his 
inestimable services in the Revolution have been told in 
their proper places. 

Finances. — Washington's wisdom was shown in the 
selection of his cabinet, or constitutional advisers. Thomas 
Jefferson was placed at the head of the Department of For- 
eign Affairs, General Knox was made Secretary of War, 
Edmund Randolph, Attorney-General, and Alexander 
Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury. Upon the last fell 
the heaviest burden, for the finances of the country could 
hardly have been in a more deplorable condition. The old 
Continental currency, which served for a while during the 
early part of the Revolution, had become worthless. The 
public debt amounted to $80,000,000. Hamilton set out 
with the demand that the debts of the United Slates due to 
Foreign Nations, those due to American citizens, and the 
war debts of the different States, should be paid to the last 
penny by the General Government. Flis plan for doing 
this was strongly opposed, but was adopted by Congress. 
The United States Bank was organized in 1791, at which 
time there were only three banks in the country — one each 
in Philadelphia, Boston and New York. The United States 
Bank had a capital of $10,000,000, of which one-fifth was 
owned by the government. This measure was vehemently 
fought, but it passed, and the bank was chartered for twenty 
years. It was located in Philadelphia, where, in 1792, a 
mint for the coinage of money was established. 

While these measures provided for the funding of the 
public debt, there was urgent need of ready money. Ham- 



HCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 135 

ilton, therefore, urged Congress to put a duty upon certain 
goods imported into this country, and to prohibit the im- 
portation of such as competed with goods made here. By 
this means ready money was quickly secured for the 
treasury. 

The Beginning of the Tariff War, and Other Finan= 
cial Measures. — From the beginning of this Government 
down to the present time there has been a struggle between 
different parties and different sections over the Tariff, that 
is, upon what imported articles the Government should im- 
pose " a duty," or levy a tax, for the benefit of its treasury, 
and how much the duty should be on each article. 

Hamilton's financial measures started the struggle dur- 
ing Washington's Administration. 

New England, and the Middle States favored a " Protec- 
tive Tarifif," and the Southern States opposed it. 

Madison, Jefferson, and their followers opposed Hamil- 
ton's measures to pay the face value of all Continental 
money — and to have the General Government assume the 
debts contracted by the States in prosecuting the War of 
the Revolution. But Hamilton pressed these measures 
with great ability, tact, and perseverance, and finally carried 
them both. 

The Whiskey Rebellion One of the measures which 

Hamilton persuaded Congress to pass was that of doubling 
the duty on imported spirits, and taxing spirits distilled in 
the United States. This caused much indignation, espe- 
cially in North Carolina and Pennsylvania. The law was 
changed somewhat, but it did not suit the people. The 
officers sent to Western Pennsylvania to collect the revenue 
were threatened with violence. The excitement intensified. 
The mails were robbed, buildings burned, and several thou- 
sand rioters flew to arms. The local militia sympathized 
with them, and in many cases gave them help. President 



136 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UXITED STATES. 

Washington sent thither a large force from other States, 
under " Light Horse Harry " Lee, of Virginia, who soon 
brought the malcontents to. terms. The ringleaders saved 
themselves from punisjiment by expressing sorrow for their 
course. This was a case of local insurrection, not the 
movement of a sovereign State. 

Wars With the Indians. — Reference has already been 
made to the troubles of the Western settlers from the 
Indians. These became so serious during Washington's 
administration as to require the attention of the govern- 
ment. It is estimated that between the years 1783 and 1790, 
1500 persons were killed or taken captives b}- the Indians 
near the Ohio. General Harmar marched against them 
with a large force in 1790. Considerable destruction of the 
Indian villages and harvest-fields took place, but the sav- 
ages ambushed a part of the force and massacred almost all 
of them, inflicting a loss upon the American troops four 
times greater than their own. Not only was General Har- 
mar's campaign a failure, but it incited the savages to new 
atrocities. 

General St. Clair was next sent against the Indians, but 
made a worse failure than Harmar had done, and notwith- 
standing Washington's warning against " a surprise," he 
allov^'ed the Indians to outwit him, and drive him out of 
their country with a loss of half of his men. 

General Anthony Wa}'ne (whose reckless courage during 
the Revolution won him the title of " Mad Anthony ") 
succeeded to the command, and he avoided every trap the 
Indians laid for him, and in a severe battle fought at Fallen 
Timbers, on the Alaumee, August 20th, 1794, he utterly 
routed them, overthrew tlieir Confederation, and inflicted 
on them a blow from which they did not recover for a long 
time. 

The following year over 1000 chiefs and warriors met the 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 137 

United States Commissioners at Greenville, where a treaty 
of peace was signed and an immense tract of territory ceded 
to the government. As a consequence, Western immigra- 
tion was renewed and continued with little interruption for 
many years. 

Trouble With France At this time the French 

Revolution was exciting the world. The people of France 
had risen against the nohility. They beheaded the king 
and established a republic, governed first by the Conven- 
tion and later by five men called the Directory. Under the 
rule of the Convention, thousands of men and women were 
beheaded on the charge of being enemies of the republic. 

The sovereigns of England, Prussia, Austria and Holland 
began war against France to overthrow the republic and 
restore the monarchy. The French sent a minister named 
Genet (zhe-na) to America to ask the United States to help 
them defend their republic, but Washington opposed his 
misson on the principle that we should not interfere in 
European quarrels. Genet's course was unbearably inso- 
lent. Despite a proclamation, issued in April, 17Q3, for- 
bidding our citizens to equip vessels to carry on hostilities 
with the warring nations, he spent several weeks in Charles- 
ton, fitting our privateers against English commerce. 

He went so far as to sanction the capture of British ves- 
sels in American waters by French cruisers. These prizes 
were taken into American ports and sold by authority of 
the French consuls. Genet's course soon became so intol- 
erable that President Washington ordered our minister in 
Paris to demand his recall. This demand was complied 
with, and " Citizen Genet " found his occupation gone. 

A New Treaty With England England was still 

sullen toward our country because of its success in the war 
for independence. She became almost as troublesom.e as 
France. Late in November, 1793, she issued secret in- 



138 SCHOOL EI STORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

structions to British privateers to seize all neutral vessels 
found trading in the French West Indies. No notice was 
given to the United States of this high-handed measure, 
and the losses of our shipping became enormous. In May, 

1794, Chief Justice Jay was sent to England, and arranged 
a new treaty. By it, England bound herself to pay for the 
damages inflicted by her cruisers, and to withdraw all her 
garrisons from the Western posts by June i, 1796. Some 
of the other provisions were so much more favorable to 
England than to us that great indignation was roused in 
this country, but the treaty was finally ratified, June 24, by 
the Senate. 

Treaties With Spain and Algiers. — October 27, 

1795, a treaty was made with Spain, by which the bounda- 
ries of Louisiana and Florida (both belonging to that coun- 
try) and of the United States were clearly defined, and our 
country gained the right for ten years freely to navigate the 
Mississippi and to use New Orleans as a port. The treaty 
signed with Algiers was anything but creditable to us. 
That insignificant little power had made it her practice for 
years to compel the ships of Christian nations to pay tribute, 
in order to save themselves from the Algerine pirates. Be- 
tween 1785 and 1793 these rogues had captured fifteen 
American vessels, and made slaves of 180 oflficers and men. 
Under an agreement on the part of Algiers to stop this sort 
of work, signed November 28, 1795, we pledged to pay 
$800,000 for the prisoners she then held, an annual tribute 
of $23,000, and to make to the Dey or ruler a present of a 
frigate worth $100,000. The navy of the United States 
was probably too weak at the time to enter into a war even 
with so puny a power, and the treaty was only a temporary 
makeshift, certain to be followed soon by more vigorous 
measures on our part. 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



139 



Invention of the Cotton Gin Probably the most 

important and far-reaching invention ever made in America 
was that of the cotton gin, in 1793. This was the work of 




From Columbian Magazine, Vsv. N. Y. Historical Society. 

FEDERAL BUILDING, NEW YORK. 

Where Congress Met When Nezv York Was Capital. 

EH Whitney, of Massachusetts, while living in Savannah. 
Although the South is peculiarly adapted to the culture of 
cotton, the industry was comparatively unprofitable be- 
cause of the tedious labor necessary to separate the seed 



140 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

from the cotton fibre. The cotton gin does this so efifec- 
tively and rapidly as to equal the labor of several thousand 
persons. Its invention gave an impetus to the cultivation 
of cotton, which quickly made it an industry worth count- 
less millions of dollars and wrought a peaceful revolution 
throughout all the cotton-growing States. 

The New Capital It was decided that the seat of 

government should be in New York city until 1790, when it 
was to be removed to Philadelphia, there to remain ten 
years. In 1800, the city of Washington was to become the 
national capital. Washington laid the corner-stone of the 
new capitol in 1793. 

Vermont the Fourteenth State. — Vermont was the 
first State to be admitted into the Union after the formation 
of the government. It came in March 4, 1791. Its name 
signifies grcoi mountain, and it is often called " the Green 
Mountain State." It was discovered and explored by 
Champlain in 1609, and the first settlement was made in 
1724, near the present site of Brattleboro'. New York and 
New Hampshire claimed the territory, and each issued 
grants for land in Vermont. New York relinquished her 
claim a year before the admission of the State on payment 
of $30,000. 

Kentucky the Fifteenth State For several years 

Kentucky knocked at the door l)efore she was admitted into 
the Union on June i, 1792. It is a mistake to suppose her 
name, as is generally believed, means the " dark"' and bloody 
ground." It is of Indian origin, and has a much milder 
meaning. Daniel Boone erected the fort known as Boones- 
borough, and removed his family thither in June. 1775. 
Kentucky remained a part of Virginia until 1792, when a 
separation took place, with the full consent of Virginia, at 
which time Kentucky had a population of nearly 100,000. 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



141 



Tennessee the Sixteenth State Tennessee was ad- 
mitted June I, 1796. The tirst permanent settlement was 
at Fort Loudon in 1756. It formed a part of North Caro- 
Hna, and existed as the State of Frankhn from 1784 to 1788, 
when it was again united to Nortii CaroHna, but shortly 
after became an independent Territory. 




01 ii SI \ll 11. ,■, 1 .IiHPENDENCE HALL). 

IV/iere Congress Met While Philadelphia Was the National Capital, 1790-1800. 

Formation of Political Parties. — As a result of the 
discussion over numerous measures of Washington's ad- 
ministrations, two distinct political parties came into exist- 
ence. Jefit'erson was the founder of the Republican party, 
which is now known as the Democratic party. Madison 
and, afterward, Randolph became leaders with him. 
They opposed the establishment of the United States Bank 
and Jay's treaty with England, and favored in general the 
reservation of as much power as possible by the separate 
States, instead of lodging it in a central government. The 



142 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Federalists arrayed themselves against the Republican 
party, their most noted leaders being Hamilton, and John 
Adams. 

Presidential Election of 1796. — Washington and 
Adams had been re-elected to a second term without oppo- 
sition. So general was the confidence in Washington that 
he was urged to accept the office for a third term. But he 
positively declined all such requests. He was growing old 
and feeble, and longed for the c]uiet of his home at Mount 
Vernon. He knew his country was safe, and he was enti- 
tled to retire and allow others to take up the work. His 
Farewell Address was a model of patriotic wisdom, well 
worthy of being heeded in these days. In the presidential 
election of 1796, Adams, the Federal candidate, defeated 
Jefferson, the Republican nominee, by three votes. In 
accordance with the law of that day, JefTerson by this vote 
was elected \ ice-President. 

Questions. — Give an account of Washington's birth and youth. 
Show the deplorable state of our finances. What is a Tariff law? 
The beginning of the Tariff war? Give an account of the Whiskey 
Rebellion. What of the Indians in the West? What of the revo- 
lution in France? Give a history of the new treaty with England. 
Of the treaty with Spain and Algiers. What is the history of the 
cotton-gin? What is said of the new capital? Give a history of 
the fourteenth State admitted into the Union. Of the fifteenth 
State. Of the sixteenth State. Give an account of the formation 
of the two great political parties. Of the presidential election of 
1796. 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITHD STATES. 143 

CHAPTER XV. 

JOHN ADAMS'S ADMINISTRATION. (1797-1801.) 

John Adams John 

Adams, second President of 
the United States, was born at 
Braintree, Mass., October 19, 
1735. He graduated at Har- 
vard College at the age of 
twenty and became a lawyer. 
No member of the first and 
second Continental Congresses 
did more than he to crystallise 
the American sentiment for in- 
dependence. He urged Con- 
gress to adopt the Declaration 
of Independence and nominated George Washington for 
commander-in-chief of the armies. He was chairman of 
twenty-five committees, as well as of the Board of War, and 
Board of Appeals. He accomplished important results as 
Commissioner to France, and Holland, and as Minister 
Plenipotentiary to negotiate a treaty with Great Britain. 
He was the first American Minister to England, holding 
that office until 1788. He received the thanks of Congress 
for the " patriotism, perseverance, integrity, and diligence " 
displayed during his career abroad. He died on the 4th of 
Julv, 1826. 

The French Troubles. — France was so offended by 
our declaration of neutrality that she ordered her men-of- 
war to attack and destroy our merchant vessels. The 
President called Congress together, and Commissioners 
were sent to France to adjust the trouble. The Directory 




144 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

refused to receive them, giving them to understand that 
before it could be done they must agree to lend France a 
large sum of money, and each member of the Directory was 
to be paid nearly $250,000 as a bribe. The Commissioners 
replied : " No ! No ! not one sixpence." The famous ex- 
pression, " Millions for defense, but not one cent for 
tribute," so generally attributed to Pinckney, originated 
afterwards with Hon. Robert Goodloe Harper in a speech 
on this incident. The commissioners were ordered to leave 
the country. 

The gratitude which Americans felt for the aid given by 
France during the Revolution was changed to anger at her 
insults. War actually began with that country. Our prep- 
arations were of the most vigorous character. An army 
was voted, a navy ordered, and our merchantmen were au- 
thorized to arm themselves against the French men-of-war. 
Washington was called from his retirement to take charge 
once more of military matters. Although old and feeble, 
he cheerfully complied with the call, only asking that Alex- 
ander Hamilton should be the acting commander-in-chief. 
Washington was to select the officers and take an active 
part when necessary. As before, he refused to receive any 
pay for his services. 

The Allen and Sedition Laws During the intense 

excitement, Congress passed the alien and sedition laws. 
These allowed the President to send out of the country such 
aliens or foreigners as he deemed dangerous to^our welfare,, 
and made it a penal offense to defame Congress or the 
President, to excite the hatred of the people against them, 
to stir up sedition in the United States, to form unlawful 
combinations for resisting the laws and to aid foreign 
nations against this countrv. 

Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of 'pS-'pp. — 
The " Alien and Seditions laws " aroused the fears of the 



SCHOOL IllSTOh'Y OF Till-: VXITED STATES. 145 

States' Rights party throughout the Union tliat the Federal 
Government would absorb the rigiits of the States. 

The result of the agitation was the passage by tlie Legis- 
latures of A'irginia and Kentucky the famous " resolutions, 
'98-'99 " (the first written by Madison and the second by 
JefTerson), which clearly defined, and ably defended the 
doctrine of " States' Rights," denounced the " Alien and 
Sedition " laws as unconstitutional, null, and void, and in- 
sisted that a State must be its own judge of when its rights 
are invaded by the General Government. 

The unpopularity of these " Alien and Sedition " laws 
contributed largely to the breaking of Adams's influence, 
the destruction of the Federal party, and the election of 
Jefferson in the next presidential contest. 

Fighting on the Ocean In February, 1799, the Am- 
erican frigate Co)islifiilioii, of thirty-eight guns. Commodore 
Truxton, engaged the ' French frigate L'liisurgciite, forty 
guns, and forced her to surrender. A year later he com- 
pelled another French frigate, La Vengeance, of fifty-four 
guns, to strike her colors. For this exploit. Congress voted 
a gold medal to Commodore Truxton. Meanwhile, Napo- 
leon Bonaparte fought his way to power in France, and 
Cfuickl}' took steps for a reconciliation with America. The 
Vv'ar cloud passed, and has never risen again between the 
two nations. 

Death of Washington On the night of December 

14, 1799, Washington died of pneumonia at his home at 
Mount Vernon. His end was peaceful, " It'is well," being 
liis last words. His death was mourned by every man, 
woman, and child in the country. There was hardly a town 
or village in which memorial services were not held. Gen- 
eral Henry Lee, " Light Horse Harry," wrote the resolu- 
tions which were read in Congress by John Marshall. They 
contained the immortal words, " First in war, first in peace 



146 SCHOOL HWTOIiY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

and first in the hearts of his countrymen," which is perhaps 
the finest tribute ever paid to the ilhistrious Father of his 
Country. 

Chief=Justice of the United States — Just before his 
term of office expired January 31st, 1801, President Adams 
nominated John Marshall of P^irginia as Chief-Justice of the 
United States, his nomination was promptly confirmed by 
the Senate, and for thirty-five years this able jurist, and un- 
compromising patriot, wore unsullied ermine, and held the 
scales of justice with firm, untrembling hand. 

Presidential Election of 1800 — President Adams had 
become unpopular. He was accused of being a poor judge 
of men, of clinging to old notions, of being irascible and full 
of egotism. The Alien and Sedition laws lost him the 
twelve electoral votes of New York, and in the presidential 
election of 1800 he received but fifty-six votes, while Jeffer- 
son and Aaron Burr, the nominees of the Republicans, each 
had seventy-three votes. This being a tie, the election was 
thrown into the House of Representatives, which met in 
February, 1801. On the thirty-sixth ballot. JefTerson re- 
ceived a majority, and Aaron Burr became Vice-President. 

Questions. — Give a biographical sketch of the second President. 
What caused trouble with France? Give the meaning and history 
of the alien and sedition laws. Resolutions of Virginia and Ken- 
tucky. Give an account of the fighting that took place on the 
ocean. Describe the death of Washington. Give an account of 
the presidential election of 1800. ^ 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 147 

CHAPTER XVI. 

JEFFERSON'S ADMINISTRATION. (1801-1809.) 

Thomas Jefferson 

Thomas Jefferson, the third 
President of the United States, 
was born at Shad well, Albe- 
marle county, Va., April 2, 
1743. His father was a 
wealthy planter, who died 
when the son was fourteen 
years old. He entered Wil- 
liam and Mary College, and 
was one of the hardest students 
in the institution. He studied 
ten and twelve hours a day, 
and became the most learned of all our Presidents. He 
was a fine Mathematician and musician, and a master of 
Latin, Greek, French, Spanish and Italian. He married a 
wealthy lady, and erected a fine mansion, which he named 
Monticello (mon-te-chel'lo). His marked ability caused 
his election to the Virginia Legislature while a young man, 
and he was soon after sent to Congress. He was not an 
orator, but few equalled him in the use of the pen. He 
wrote the Declaration of Independence, and secured the 
passage of many excellent laws by his native State. He 
was the author of our decimal system of currency, and of a 
parliamentary manual for the government of the United 
States Senate. He was Governor of Virginia during a por- 
tion of the Revolution, and narrowly escaped capture by the 
enemy. He succeeded Franklin as Minister to France, and 
was the first Secretary of State under Washington. He is 




148 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE VXITED STATES. 

regarded today as the founder of the present Democratic 
party. 

Jeliferson, ahhoiigh weahhy and highly educated, favored 
the utmost simplicity. He dressed plainly, wearing shoe- 
strings, instead of the silver buckles so fashionable in his 
day. He was author of a statute for " perfect religious free- 
dom " in Virginia, and was the founder of the University of 
Virginia, which discarded the old " curriculum " and intro- 
duced the " free system of independent schools." 

War With Tripoli. — We have already learned that for 
a long time the Barbary States, in the northern part of 
Africa, had been accustomed to exact an annual tribute from 
the Christian nations. The payment of this tribute pro- 
tected their vessels from the pirates that cruised in those 
waters. The Dey, or ruler of Tripoli, became angry be- 
cause our tribute was not sent witli sufficient promptness, 
and he had the audacity to declare war against us. But 
very soon the Tripolitan cruisers were riddled, and the bar- 
barians compelled to sue for peace. 

The Philadelphia having grounded in the harbor of 
Tripoli, was captured by a fleet of gunboats ; but on the 
night of February 15th, 1804, Lieutenant Stephen Decatur 
performed the daring feat, in a small vessel called the 
Intrepid, of stealing into the harbor, lashing his vessel to the 
Philadelphia, and burning her to the water's edge withou*; 
the loss of a man on his part. Soon after Commodore 
Prebel bombarded and captured the city of T/ipoli, and 
June 3d, 1805, Tripoli eagerly signed the Treaty of Peace 
we dictated. 

Admission of Ohio — In the year 1800. the Northwest- 
ern Territory was cut by a line running from the mouth of 
the Great Miami river to Fort Recovery, and thence to 
Canada. Three years later (November 29), the country thus 
defined was admitted as the State of Ohio. Its name sig- 



SCHOOL IlIfiTOUY OF THE VNITED STATE^"^. 149 

nifies "beautiful river." It was first explored by La Salle 
about 1669. The first permaneut settlement was made at 
Marietta in 1788. 

Purchase of Louisiana. — Louisiana, in Jefferson's 
time, was an immense territory, belonging to France, hav- 
ing been ceded to her by Spain. It embraced the present 
States of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, 
Oklahoma, Indian Territory. North, and South Dakota, 
Montana, and parts of Kansas, Minnesota, Wyoming, and 
Colorado. This vast region was purchased from France, 
April 30, 1803, the price paid being $11,250,000. Our gov- 
ernment assumed certain debts due from France to Ameri- 
can citizens, amounting to $3,750,000, so that the total cost 
of Louisiana was $15,000,000. The area thus acquired 
amounted to more than 1,000,000 square miles. 

The purchase was bitterly opposed, especially in New 
England, where they threatened to secede from the Union 
if it was consummated, and the Legislature of Massachu- 
setts actually passed, and sent to the President, and Speaker 
of the House a resolution to the effect that they would con- 
sider the adding of the Louisiana territory to the domain of 
the LInited States just cause for exercising their right of 
secession. 

In 1786, the New England States had strongly favored a 
proposed treaty with Spain by which, in return for certain 
concessions to our commerce at other points, the United 
States should abandon for twenty years the right to navi- 
gate the Mississippi, thus recognizing the claim of Spain to 
the right of taxing all other than Spanish vessels which 
passed through the mouth of the great river. This natu- 
rally excited the people of Kentucky, Tennessee, and other 
Southern States, as in those days there were no railways, 
and they were absolutely dependent on this great waterway. 
Although the measure failed, there was a good deal of 



150 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

feeling in the South against the course of New England in 
trying to promote her own interests by fastening upon the 
country this treaty, which would have been so destructive 
to the interests of people along the Mississippi, and its 
tributaries. 

It may be well supposed, then, that when Jefiferson made 
the purchase of that immense territory, and thus secured 
the free navigation of this great " inland sea," the people 
immediately interested did not take it very kindly that New 
England bitterly opposed the purchase, and threatened to 
secede from the Union if it was consummated. 

Duel Between Burr and Hamilton A shocking 

tragedy took place on the nth of July 1804, at Weehawken, 
New Jersey. Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, two of 
the most brilliant of Americans, were bitter personal ene- 
mies. Burr, although possessing extraordinary ability, was 
a vicious and dangerous man, and Elamilton opposed him 
with so much vigor that he prevented his election to the 
Presidency in 1801. Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel, 
which was fought on the day named. Hamilton fired his 
pistol in the air, but Burr aimed straight at Hamilton, in- 
flicting a wound from which he died the next day. The 
friends of Burr fell away from him, so that, in the fall of 
1804, when Jefferson was re-elected. Burr was dropped as 
Vice-President. 

Burr afterwards organized in the West an expedition 
which, he claimed, was intended to establish a settlement in 
Northern Mexico. But he was suspected of treasonable 
purposes against the government of the United States, and 
of a design to start a new republic west of the Alleghanies. 
He was arrested and had his famous trial at Richmond, 
Va., in which William Wirt so greatly distinguished him- 
self as prosecutor. 

Burr was acquitted, for want of proof, but many believed 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 151 

him guilty, and this man of briUiant talents, who had come 
within one vote of being elected President of the United 
States, became henceforth an outcast. 

Expedition of Lewis and Clark. — Comparatively 
nothing was known of the extensive country west of the 
Mississippi. Upon the recommendation of President Jef- 
ferson, an appropriation was made by Congress for its par- 
tial exploration. On the 14th of May, 1804, thirty men left 
the Mississippi, under charge of Captains Meriwether Lewis 
and William Clark, both natives of Virginia. They worked 
their way in a flotilla for 2600 miles up the Missouri. They 
gave the names of Jefferson, Madison and Gallatin to 
the three streams which form the Missouri. Mounting the 
horses which they had" captured, they pushed across the 
mountains. They discovered the two streams named re- 
spectively Lewis and Clark, and followed them to the 
Columbia, down which they passed to the Pacific Ocean. 
They were the first white men to cross the continent north 
of Mexico. They were absent more than two years, and 
the report which they published on their return excited pro- 
found interest. 

The First Steamboat Voyage Up the Hudson. — 
Several attempts, all resulting in failure, had been made to 
apply steam to river navigation. To Robert Fulton, a 
native of Pennsylvania, belongs the credit of attaining the 
first success. The Kathcrinc of Clermont was launched at 
New York, August i, 1807. She was an awkward struc- 
ture, over 100 feet long, nearly twenty feet wide, with side 
paddle-wheels and a sheet-iron boiler that had been brought 
from England. It took her thirty-two hours to make the 
voyage to Albany. On her return, she ran aground and 
burst her boiler, though without hurting any one. This 
voyage marked an era in the history of navigation. 

It ought to be added, however, that in August, 1787, 



152 ISCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED HTATES. 

Jolin Fitcli, of Connecticut, put a rude steamboat on the 
Delaware, which was seen and admired by members of the 
Federal Convention, along with others, and that in Decem- 
ber of the same year James Rumsey, of Shepherdstown, 
Va., made on the Potomac a trial trip of a steamboat of his 
invention, and that General Gates, and others, who wit- 
nessed it, pronounced it a success. 

Fulton, however, succeeded in making his effort a per- 
manent success, and has won the credit of being the in- 
ventor of the steamboat. 

Threatened War With England The war raging 

between France and England soon affected this country 
disastrously. England declared the coast of France in a 
state of blockade, and Napoleon retaliated by forbidding all 
commerce with England. As a result, our vessels, which 
were largely engaged in the carrying trade, became the prey 
of both nations. This was a severe blow ; but the most ex- 
asperating act of England was in enforcing the " right of 
search " of our vessels. Under the pretext that some of 
our ships employed deserters from the British navy, she 
stopped them in mid-ocean, and wherever she chose, and 
searched them. 

In the spring of 1807, the British ship Lcandcr, cruising 
off New York, fired into a coasting vessel and killed one 
man. Thereupon, the President issued a proclamation for- 
bidding the Lcandcr and the two ships accompanying her 
from entering any United States waters, and carlling upon 
the civil and military authorities to apprehend the captain 
of the Lcandcr on the charge of murder. While the envoys 
sent to England to settle the trouble were thus engaged, the 
most intolerable outrage of all occurred. 

The British ship-of-war Leopard, of fifty guns, was cruis- 
ing off the capes of Virginia, on the watch for the American 
frigate Chesapeake, Captain Barron, which, it was claimed, 



F^CnOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 153 

had several British deserters on board. Captain Barron re- 
fused to submit to a search, whereupon the Leopard (June 
22) poured several broadsides into her, killing three and 
wounding eighteen men. The Chesapeake, being unpre- 
pared for action, struck her flag. 

This outrage set the country aflame with indignation. 
The President, by proclamation, closed all American har- 
bors and waters against the British navy, prohibited inter- 
course with such vessels, and sent a special minister to 
England to obtain satisfaction. A hundred thousand men 
in the different States were ordered to hold themselves in 
readiness, and Congress was summoned to meet on the 
2'5th of October. The action of the Leopard was disavowed 
by England, who offered reparation. She would not, how- 
ever, give up the right of search. The promised reparation 
was never made. 

The Embargo. — The concessions of England and the 
fact that we had no navy postponed war. After consider- 
able discussion, Congress, December 22, 1807, passed the 
Embargo Act. This forbade American vessels to leave the 
States for foreign ports. It was thought that by this 
means England and France would be forced to respect the 
neutrality of this country. The sad fact, however, con- 
nected with the Embargo Act was that it inflicted more 
injury upon us than upon any one else. It was mercilessly 
ridiculed, and caused so much dissatisfaction that Congress 
repealed it on the last day but one of Jefferson's second 
term. 

Termination of the Slave Trade Wlien the Consti- 
tution of 1787 was adopted, the slave trade was extended 
twenty years by the votes of New England, whose ships had 
been largely engaged in this business since 1636, and 
against the votes of Virginia, and Delaware. In 1808, 
therefore, it expired, though some years before the States 



154 SCHOOL Ul^TOliY Of THE UXITPJD f^TATEl^. 

of Georgia and Virginia had passed laws forbidding the 
importation of African slaves into those States. 

It will thus be seen that New England favored the per- 
petuation of the slave trade, because her slavers found it 
very profitable, while these other States were in favor of 
abolishing it. It was greatly to their interest to purchase 
negroes from African slavers rather than from the Northern 
States, who now began to find slave labor unprofitable, and 
were selling their negroes to the South, instead of setting 
them free. New England's history on this question is one 
of sordid self-interest and meddlesome interference, instead 
of philanthropy. 

The Presidential Election of 1808 Charles C. 

Pinckney, of South Carolina, was the nominee of the Fed- 
eral party for President, and Rufus King the candidate for 
Vice-President. The Republicans, or Democrats, put for- 
ward James Madison, of Virginia, for President, and 
George Clinton, of New York, for Vice-President. Madi- 
son was elected, and Clinton retained the Vice-Presidency, 
which he had held since 1805. 

Questions. — Give a biographical sketch of the third President. 
What brought about the war with Tripoli? What is said of Ohio? 
Show the extent of Louisiana when owned by France. Tell what 
you know of its purchase. Give an account of the duel between 
Burr and Hamilton. Tell the story of the expedition of Lewis and 
Clark. Give an account of the first steamboat voyage up the 
Hudson. What caused trouble with England? Relate the incident 
of the Lcander and what followed. Give a history of the Embargo 
Act. What of the presidential election of 1808? 



SCHOOL UhsTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



155 




CHAPTER XVII. 
MADISON'S ADMINISTRATION. (1809-1817.) 

James Madison. — The 

fourth President of the United 
States was born at Port Con- 
way, \'a.. Alarch 10, 1751, and 
died June 28, 1836. He re- 
ceived an excellent education, 
and graduated from Princeton 
College when only twenty 
years old. He was elected to 
the Virginia Convention in 
1776, and was offered and de- 
clined the mission to France 
upon the return of Jefiferson. 
He declined also the ofifice of Secretary of State, when Jef- 
ferson resigned, fearing to create discord in Washington's 
cabinet. He was Secretary of State to JelTerson through- 
out both his terms. He was a courteous gentleman, highly 
educated, and with few, if any, enemies. An ardent friend 
of JefTerson, he carried out his policy when he bccairie 
President. 

The Affair of the President Affairs with England 

grew more irritating every day. On the i6th of May, 181 1, 
the British sloop Little Belt was busy stopping American 
merchant vessels ofif our coast and enforcing the odious 
" right of search." Just as night was closing in, her captain 
hailed the American frigate President, under Commodore 
Rodgers. The answer of the American' not being respect- 
ful enough to suit the Englishman, he fired a shot at the 
President. Instantly the President let f^y with a broadside, 
following it up with others, which badly crippled the Little 



156 SCHOOL Hlt^iTURY OF THE UMTEI) NTATEti. 

Beit, besides killing eleven of her men and wounding 
twenty-one. This sort of reply may not have suited the 
Englishmen, but it " struck fire " in the hearts of the 
Americans who were beginning to clamor for a war with 
England. 

Battle of Tippecanoe.- — Meanwhile, British emissaries 
were stirring up the Indians against us. Tecumseh, one of 
the greatest American Indians that ever lived, formed a con- 
federacy of the tribes in the Northwest. General William 
Henry Harrison, Governor of the Northwestern Territory 
and afterwards President of the United States, was sent 
with a strong force against them. During the absence of 
Tecumseh, his warriors treacherously attacked the Ameri- 
can forces at night (November 7), near the mouth of the 
Tippecanoe river. The battle was a severe one, but in the 
end the savages were totally routed with great loss. This 
victory was the cause of General Harrison's being afterward 
popularly known as " (")ld Tippecanoe." 

War Declared With England There was a strong 

minority in the country opposed to a war with England. 
It seemed to many that the questions in dispute, and the 
continual shifting of events and conditions on the other side 
of the Atlantic, left the way open for an honorable peace. 

New England bitterly opposed the war, although it had 
really been 'brought on in the interests of her commerce, 
since she owned a far larger number of vessels than any 
other section. Her pulpit, her press, and her people gen- 
erally denounced it and all measures for its prosecution, and 
after it had actually begun the legislatures of the New 
England States nullified laws of Congress for raising men or 
money, refused to allow their militia to go beyond their 
State lines to meet the common enemy, and did everything 
in their power to thwart Congress and the President in 
their measures for carrying on hostilities. 




Engraved far Holmea'IIulor) of United Statet, 



SCHOOL HJt^TOh'Y OF THE UNITED STATEl-^. I'tl 

There was bitter feeling between the Federahsts, who op- 
posed the war, and the Repubhcans, who favored it, and the 
hesitation of President Madison to take the momentous 
step caused his denunciation in many quarters. A Con- 
gressman declared that he could not be kicked into a fight. 
Finally, the war spirit reached such a point that it could not 
be restrained. Congress voted to increase the army and 
navy, and on the 19th of June, 1812, declared war with 
Great Britain. 

Surrender of Detroit It was decided at the opening 

of the war that Canada should be invaded. General Wihiam 
Hull, who had done good service in the Revolution, was 
Governor of Michigan Territory, and when war was de- 
clared, was marching with 2000 troops against the Indians. 
Having authority to use his discretion, he crossed and en- 
camped on the other side of the river. After lying idle for 
a time, he learned that the British General Brock was 
marching against him, whereupon he withdrew to Detroit. 
Brock and Tecumseh, with his Indians, soon appeared be- 
fore the post. The garrison was eager for the battle and 
were in line, the gunners standing with lighted matches. 
At this juncture, General Hull became so frightened at the 
prospect of bloodshed that he ran up the white flag in token 
of surrender (August 16). 

He thus gave up, not only the fort and stores, but all of 
Michigan. For this a court-martial sentenced him to l)e 
shot for cowardice, but the President pardoned him, be- 
cause of his age and services in the Revolution. 

Battle of Queenstown Heights. — ^ Another Ameri- 
can invasion of Canada came to naught. The New York 
militia refused to cross Niagara river to the help of their 
hard-pressed comrades at Queenstown Heights (October 
13). The latter fought bravely, but were forced to sur- 
render. 



158 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The War on the Ocean (Jur little navy, however, 

covered itself with glory. The American frigate Constitu- 
tion, and the Gucrricrc (ger-e-ar') met ofif the banks of 
Newfoundland. Captain Isaac Hull, a nephew of General 
Hull, poured .broadside after broadside into the Gucrricrc, 
sweeping her deck, riddling her hull, and tearing her masts 
and rigging to splinters and shreds. When the Gucrricrc 
surrendered, she was so battered that she could not be 
brought into port. As for the Constitution, she set out at 
once to look for another fight. 

The engagement between the American sloop-of-war 
Wasp and the British Frolic, ofif North Carolina (October 
13), was of the fiercest character. The Frolic was com- 
pelled to haul down her colors, but before the Wasp could 
make sail a British man-of-war bore down and captured 
her. In the course of the first year of the war, our navy 
took more than 300 prizes and 3000 prisoners. Madison's 
re-election in 1812 proved that a large majority of the peo- 
ple were strongly in favor of the war with England. 

Invasion of Canada. — Another attempt was made to 
invade Canada in 1813, but little advantage was gained. 
The British still held Michigan, and were preparing to in- 
vade Ohio, when a great naval victory changed the char- 
acter of the whole campaign. 

Capture of the Chesapeake Our navy, as before, 

did brilliant work, but was not always successfid. Captain 
James Lawrence, in command of the Chesapeake, was chal- 
lenged by the captain of the Shannon to come out from the 
harbor of Boston and fight him. The Chesapeake was un- 
dergoing repairs and in no condition for battle, but the chal- 
lenge was accepted. A desperate engagement followed 
(June i), and the Chesapeake was captured. As the dying 
Lawrence was carried below, he called out : " Don't give 




THE "constitution" AND THE " GUERKIERE.' 



160 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED ISTATEl^. 

up the ship ! " His words have become the motto of the 
American Navy. 

Massacre at Frenchtown General Wilham H. Har- 
rison had been put in command in the Northwest, and was 
preparing a campaign against Detroit, when, in January, 
1813, his advance at Frenchtown, on the river Raisin, 
twenty-six miles from Detroit, was threatened by Colonel 
Proctor, and General Winchester, an old Revolutionary 
soldier, was sent to his relief. 

After a fierce battle with the enemy, Winchester was sur- 
rounded, and persuaded by Proctor to surrender, under 
promise of kind treatment. 

This pledge was, however, shamefully violated, as Proc- 
tor marched back to Maiden with his white troops and such 
of his prisoners as could walk, and left the wounded to be 
horribly tortured, and butchered by his Indian allies. 
Even the Indian chief Tecumseh, who was not present, de- 
nounced Proctor's conduct in this affair. 

Forts Meigs and Stephenson General Harrison 

advanced, and built Fort Meigs, on the Maumee, which 
was assaulted by Proctor before its completion, and Tecum- 
seh, but was bravely and successfully defended. 

Colonel Dudley and a body of Kentucky volunteers, 
coming to the relief of Meigs, were surrounded, eighty of, 
them killed and 550 of them taken prisoners. 

Despite the most earnest and indignant protestations and 
efforts of the brave Tecumseh, who seems to have been far 
more humane than Proctor, the British commander, the 
prisoners were most barbarously treated by the savages. 

In July, Proctor renewed the attack on Fort Meigs, which 
was now commanded by General Clay of Kentucky, and 
had been made so strong, and was so gallantly defended 
that all efforts to take it failed. 

August the ist, 1813, Proctor, leaving a force of Indians 



SrilOOL HhsTOh'Y O/.' TUE UNITEJ) HTATIJS. 101 

to make a show of continuing the siege of Fort Meigs, ap- 
peared before Fort Stephenson, at Sandusky, which was a 
weak stockade with only one mounted six pounder, com- 
manded by Captain Croghan of Kentucky, a youthful hero 
only twenty-one years old, with a garrison of only i6o men. 

Proctor, who had a force nearly eight times tha*- in the 
fort, besides his gunboats, demanded the surrender of the 
fort, with a threat of exterminating the garrison if his sum- 
mons was refused. 

The gallant Croghan replied that he would not surrender, 
and that if the fort should be taken, not a man would be 
found alive to be butchered. 

The attack opened on the 2d of x^ugust, and after a 
heavy bombardment a fierce assault was made, the leader. 
Colonel Short, crying out to his men, who crowded after 
him, " Give the damned Yankees no quarter ! " 

But at the right moment the six pounder opened, the 
garrison poured upon the assailants a fearful rifle fire, 200 
of them fell, the Indians became panic stricken and fled to 
the woods, the siege was abandoned, and Proctor retreated 
to Maiden. 

The heroic garrison lost only one killed, and their bril- 
liant defence was warmly applauded by General Harrison, 
the army, and the people. 

Perry's Victory Commodore Barclay was on Lake 

Erie, with a British squadron of six vessels and sixty-three 
guns. Captain Perry, a young man who had never seen a 
naval battle, had nine American vessels, with fifty-five 
guns. The two squadrons met at the western end of Lake 
Erie, September 10, 1813, and in a battle of three hours, all 
the British vessels were captured. This was the first time 
in the history of Great Britain that she surrendered an 
entire squadron. Perry's dispatch to General Harrison, 



132 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

announcing the victory, was in the famous words : " We 
have met the enemy and they are ours." 

Battle of the Thames. — Perry's victory reheved Ohio 
from all danger of invasion. General Harrison gained a 
great victory over the British and Indians, on the Thames 
river, in Upper Canada, October 5, 181 3, and recovered 
Michigan from the enemy. Great Britain prosecuted the 
war with more vigor in 1814. She sent many reinforce- 
ments to this country, among whom were thousands of 
veterans that had fought against Napoleon. 

The Last Invasion of Canada General Brown 

crossed the Niagara river, and the last invasion of Canada 
took place. Fort Erie was captured, and General Winfield 
Scott attacked the British at Chippewa, July 5, and won a 
victory. The fiercest battle of the war was fought on the 
25th at Lundy's Lane, opposite Niagara Falls. It was an- 
other American triumph, though the loss was heavy on 
both sides, and Generals Scott and Brown were wounded. 

Naval Victory on Lake Champlain General 

Brown had drawn all the troops from Plattsburg except 
1500 men. Learning of this, the British commander in 
Canada marched against the place with an immense body 
of troops. At the same time, the English vessels assailed 
the American fleet under Comodore McDonough (don'o), 
September 11, 1814. The attacking squadron was almost 
destroyed, and the British troops were repulsed. They fled 
so hastily that the sick and wounded and a large amount of 
military stores were left behind. 

Capture of Washington.^ A strong body of English 
troops sailed up the Potomac, and, landing near Washing- 
ton, captured the city (August 24). which had made little 
provision against attack. The President's mansion, the 
capitol and a number of public buildings were burned. The 
enemy then set out for Baltimore. On the march. General 



SCHOOL Hli^TORY OF THE I'KITED STATES. 



ir)3 



Ross, the British commander, was killed by an American 
sharpshooter. The attack on Baltimore (Septem'ber 13) 
was repulsed. The event inspired Francis S. Key, then a 
prisoner on a British vessel, to write our national song, 
" The Star-Spahgled Banner," when in the early dawn he 
saw the Stars and Stripes still floating. 

Defeat of the Creeks Tecumseh had so vigorously 

and skillfully prosecuted his efforts to arouse the Indians 
against the Americans that his influence extended to the 




UNFINISHED CillluL, W.v.lil 1 , D ^14 

TAe building on the left is the old Hall o/ Representatives that on the right tht old 
Senate Chatnher. In the ifiace betiveen the two tio%v stands the rotunda 
^vhich xvas then not built. New halls for House of Repre- 
sentatives and Senate have been added. 

South, and Wethersford (" Red Eagle "), the able chief of 
the Creeks, formed a combination running through Ala- 
bama, Georgia, Mississippi, and Florida. 

On August 30th, 181 3, at noon, " Red Eagle," with 700 
of his braves, effected a complete surprise at Fort Mims, on 
the Alabama river, about fifty miles north of Mobile Bay, 
rushed in through the wide open gates, and massacred 
nearly four hundred men, women and children. 

Georgia, Tennessee, and Mississippi Territory took 
prompt measures to invade the Creek country, and the 



164 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

whole force was put under the command of that most 
remarkable man, General Andrew Jackson of Tennessee. 

In November, General Ployd, in command of the Georgia 
militia, defeated the Indians at Callabee, and then at 
Antossee, where, on the 29th of November, he burned their 
town. 

General Cofifee, with his Mississippians, gained a decisive 
victory over them at Tallasahatchee,on the 3d of November. 

General Jackson, with his Tennesseeans, routed a large 
force of them at Talladega, Ala., killing 300 and scattering 
the rest to the mountains. On January 22d, 1814, at 
Emuckfaw, and on the 24th, at Enotochopeo, Jackson 
gained signal victories over the Creeks. 

But his final and most complete victory was on the 27th 
of March, 1814, at " Horseshoe Bend," on the Tallapoosa 
river, where the Indians lost, killed or drowned, 750, and 
Jackson 201 killed, and wounded. 

Jackson made a Treaty of Peace with the Creeks, which 
was greatly to the advantage of the United States. 

The Hartford Convention As we have seen, New 

England was bitterly opposed to the war with England, 
and did everything in her power to prevent its opening, 
and then to obstruct its prosecution. The New England 
States practically nullified every act of Congress to raise 
men or money to carry on the war. 

But the opposition culminated in the " Hartford Con- 
vention," composed of delegates elected by the -Legislatures 
of all of the New England States, which convened on De- 
cember 15, 1814. The convention sat with closed doors, 
but it leaked out, and has been well established, that the}' 
resolved to exercise their right of secession, and to leave 
the Union if the war was not stopped, and fixed a day on 
which they would hold another convention for more deci- 
sive action. But the Treatv of Ghent was agreed on De- 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED .STATES. 165 

cember 24, 18 14, and was promulgated before the date fixed 
for this second convention, and secession was thus post- 
poned to 1860-61, and transferred from New England to 
the Southern States. 

The Battle of New Orleans Jackson's victory over 

the Creeks gave hhu wide reputation, and he was made 
Alajor-General in the United States army, and assigned to 
the command of the Southwest. 

Having remonstrated, without success, with the Spanish 
Governor at Pensacola for allowing that port to be used by 
the British, and failing to receive instructions from his gov- 
ernment, Jackson marched on, and captured Pensacola, and 
drove the British vessels out of the harbor. 

He then transferred his army as rapidly as possible to 
New Orleans, which he reached December 2d, 1814. 

He declared, and enforced, Martial Law, and took the 
most judicious measures for the defence of the city. 

On the 23d of December, Jackson made a night attack 
on the advance of the British army, under General Keane, 
nine miles below New Orleans. In this battle Jackson lost 
twenty-four killed, and 189 wounded, or prisoners. 

The British loss was 400 killed, wounded, and missing, 
and this night attack saved New Orleans, as it delayed the 
advance of the British until Jackson was ready for them. 

Sir Edward Packenham, a brother-in-law of the Duke of 
Wellington, and a soldier of brilliant achievements and wide 
fame, was put in command of all of the British troops in 
front of New Orleans, which made a force of about 12,000 
men, the very flower of the veterans who had won the glory 
of the British armies in Europe, and fifty ships. 

After several minor affairs, in which the Americans were 
successful. General Packenham made, on January 8th, 181 5, 
a combined attack on Jackson's lines. The Americans had 
only half as many men as the British, and they were not as 



166 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

well armed or equipped, but they were brave backwoods- 
men, thorough masters of the deadly rifle, and protected 
by well-constructed earthworks. The British were bravely 
led, and the men behaved with conspicuous courage, but 
the result was that several assavilts met with bloody repulse, 
and the whole battle was one of the most complete, and 
bloody defeats ever sustained by a British army. 

General Packenham, and General Gibbs were killed, and 
General Keane was severely wounded, while many others 
of the best officers were cut down. It is estimated that the 
total loss of the British in these operations was 4000 killed, 
wounded, and missing, while the American loss on the east 
bank of the river was only seven killed, and seven wounded, 
and in all only twenty-seven killed, and wounded. 

Naval Victories In the month of February, 1815, 

Captain Charles Stewart, commanding the Constitution, met 
the Cyane and Levant olT the coast of South America, and 
captured both vessels. The victory was greatly due to the 
hnt seamanship of Stewart, who handled his ship so skill- 
fully that the enemy was never once able to rake him, while 
he swept their decks repeatedly. 

The American Privateers The privateers sailed 

from every port. Baltimore sent out the most, but many 
went from New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Salem. 
Some of the cruisers leaving Charleston, Bristol and Ply- 
mouth were only pilot boats, with twenty or thirty men 
each. They harassed the traders of the British West 
Indies. 

There were a few powerful frigates, however, the equal of 
the best in the English navy. Alost of the privateers were 
schooners, swift and well armed. A number were brigs and 
brigantines. They were crowded with men, so as to give 
crews to the captured prizes. Sometimes the prizes were 



SCHOOL Hl^TOUy OF THE UMTED tiTlTES. 167 

SO numerous that the privateers had hardly enough men 
left to handle them. 

Peace. — A treaty of peace between the United States 
and Great Britain was signed at Ghent, December 24, 1814. 
It will be noticed that the battle" of New Orleans and Cap- 
tain Stewart's naval battles were fought after that event. 
Had the ocean telegraph or the swift steamers of today 
been in existence, those battles would never have taken 
place, but three months were required for the news to reach 
the hostile forces on land and sea. 

War With Algiers Algiers thought it a good time 

to take advantage of the situation, because we had neg- 
lected to pay her tribute, while we were engaged in fighting 
England. So the Dey let loose his pirates, with orders to 
collect the tribute. The United States promptly declared 
war against those robbers, and Commodores Decatur and 
Bainbridge were sent to the Mediterranean. On the 17th 
of June, Decatur captured the frigate of the Algerine ad- 
miral, took another frigaie two days later, and then ap- 
peared before the city of Algiers. He demanded the instant 
surrender of every American prisoner, indemnity for all 
property destroyed, and the renouncing of all claims to 
future trilnite. The terrified barbarian had no choice but 
to submit, and the treaty was made on the quarter-deck of 
Decatur's ship. The Pasha of Tunis was made to pay a 
large sum of money for the American vessels he had allowed 
the English to capture in his harbor during the war. The 
Pasha of Tripoli was forced to do the same, and the Bar- 
bary States were so humbled that they have never given us 
any more trouble. 

Admission of Louisiana.— Louisiana, the eighteenth 
State, was admitted into the Union, April 8, 1812. It was 
named in honor of King Louis XIV, of France. The first 
settlement was made by Iberville, at Biloxi, near the mouth 



168 .SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

of the Mississippi, in 1699. The territory was ceded to 
Spain in 1763, but re-ceded in 1800 to France. Its im- 
mense area has already been stated. In 1804, it was divided 
into the Territory of Orleans (afterward admitted as the 
State of Louisiana) and the District of Louisiana, whose 
name was changed to Missouri, when the territory of 
Orleans became a State. 

Admission of Indiana Indiana, the nineteenth State, 

came into the Union, December 11, 1816. The name 
Indiana was given to that portion of the Northwestern Ter- 
ritory which remained after Ohio was erected into a State. 
Its early development was much hindered by the hostility of 
Indians, but when that ended, its prosperity and increase in 
population were rapid. 

Presidential Election of 1816 The war of 181 2 

destroyed the Federal party. Its Presidential candidate 
received the electoral vote only of New Hampshire in 18 16. 
James Monroe of \'irginia. and Daniel Tompkins, of New 
York, were elected President and Vice-President by the 
Republicans. 

Questions. — Give a biographical sketch of the fourth President. 
Give tlie particulars of the affair of the President. Tell what you 
know of the battle of Tippecanoe. What is said of war witli Eng- 
land? Describe the surrender of Detroit. What of the battle of 
Queenstown Heights? Of the war on the ocean? Of the invasion 
of Canada? Capture of the Chesapeake f Massacre at Frenchtown 
on Raisin river? Forts Meigs and Stephenson? Of Perry's vic- 
tory? Of the battle of the Thames? Of the last ■'invasion of 
Canada? Of the naval victory on Lake Champlain? The capture 
of Washington? Campaign against the Creeks? The " Hartford 
Convention? " Battle of New Orleans? The naval victories? 
What of the American privateers? What is said of the treaty of 
peace? What of the course of Algiers? Tell when the eighteenth 
State was admitted, and give a brief sketch of it. Do the same 
regarding the nineteenth State. Of the presidential election of 
1816. 



SCHOOL UlSTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



1G9 



CHAPTER XVIII. 




MONROE'S ADMINISTRATIONS. (1817-1825.) 

James Monroe The 

fifth President of the United 
States was born at Monroe's 
Creek, Westmoreland county, 
A'irginia, April 28, 1758, and 
died July 4, 1831. Thus, four 
out of the first five Presidents 
were natives of \"irginia, be- 
sides three who have since 
held that oflfice. Virginia, 
tiierefore, has well earned the 
title of " the mother of States 
and of Presidents." It was re- 
ported that the elder Adams was very indignant at the 
election of Monroe, and said : " My son will never have a 
chance until the last Mrginian is laid in his grave ! " James 
Monroe was educated at William and Mary College, and 
was a soldier under Washington. As Lieutenant, he per- 
formed a brilliant exploit at the battle of Trenton, in the 
capture of a Hessian battery before it could open fire on 
the Continentals. He did good service also at Brandywine, 
Germantown and Alonmouth. He studied law under Jef- 
ferson, served in the \'irginia Legislature, and was sent to 
Congress when only twenty-five years old. From 1799 to 
1802, he was Governor of Virginia, and was afterwards sent 
by President JefTerson to negotiate the purchase of Louis- 
iana. In 181 1, he was again elected Governor of Virginia, 
and became Madison's Secretary of State. He was also 
Secretary of War at the same time ; and as there was no 
money in the Treasury, he pledged his private means for 



170 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

the defense of New Orleans. He was of plain, unassuming 
manners, of spotless integrity, of fine judgment, and was a 
President whose administration was one of the most bril- 
liant in the history of our country. He died at the resi- 
dence of his son-in-law, in New York, July 4th, 1831, 
and in 1858 his remains were removed to Richmond, Va., 
and interred in Hollywood Cemetery, with high civic, and 
military honors. 

The Era of " Good Feeling." — Under Monroe's two 
administrations, the Union made more advance in prosper- 
ity than under any previous President. He was very popu- 
lar, having many lovable personal qualities, and the Union 
seemed to become knitted together more closely than be- 
fore. So marked was our progress, and so complete the 
cessation of party spirit, that his administration is often 
referred to as the " era of good feeling." 

When President Monroe assumed office, manufactures 
were at a low ebb. This was because of cheap labor com- 
petition in Europe. Congress imposed taxes on imported 
goods, which gave a prodigious impetus to productions in 
the United States. The internal revenue taxes were abol- 
ished, and pension acts were passed, giving pensions to the 
veterans of the Revolution, and the War of 1812. 

The Seminole War. — Florida belonged to Spain. In 
the swamps and everglades of that territory a vicious tribe 
of Indians, known as the Seminoles, made their home. 
Hundreds of runaway slaves found their way into these fast- 
nesses and joined the Indians. This mongrel people com- 
mitted many outrages on the settlers of Alabama and 
Georgia. General Jackson was sent against them with a 
strong body of troops. Finding that the Seminoles were 
aided by the Spaniards at Pensacola, Jackson drove out the 
Spaniards, shot one and hanged another of the chief oiTend- 
ers, and raised the Stars and Stripes over the place. Al- 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



171 



though " Old Hickory " had been forbidden to enter 
Florida except in pursuit of the enemy, he pushed his 
operations, until he compelled the Spanish governor to flee 
to Havana. The Seminoles were completely subdued. 

The Purchase of Florida. — Having been driven cut 
of Florida, Spain decided to sell the country to the United 



'J^artd' ' JdK 




i 







EXF.CLTIVE MANSION (WHITE HOUSE"', WASHINGTON. 

Begun in 1792; First Occupied in 1800 by President Adatits ; Burned in 1814; 

Restored 1817. 



States. It came into our possession in 1820, the price paid 
being $5,000,000. The Sabine, instead of the Rio Grande 
river, was made the dividing line between the territories of 
the two governments west of the Mississippi. Texas was 
thus left under the dominion of Spain, but besides Florida 
the United States got Oregon territory, which now em- 



172 SCHOOL HimORY OF THE UNITED ^STATES. 

braces the States of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. 
General Jackson was the first Governor of Florida. 

Steamboats on the Rivers and Lakes The build- 
ing of steamboats, and their navigation of the Mississippi 
and its tributaries, and the great lakes opened up a new era 
of prosperity, and caused the stream of immigration to flow 
into the Western States. 

The First Ocean Steamer — The success of Fulton's 
steamboat on the Hudson in 1807 made him famous. He 
built the first United States war vessel and many steam- 
boats. The steamer Savannah left the city of that name, 
May 24, and made the voyage across the ocean in twenty- 
six days. The time has been steadily shortened since, until 
it has been reduced to less than six days. 

The close of the Napoleonic wars in Europe, the impov- 
erishment of many of the people there, the steamships ready 
to bring them across, and the inducements ofifered settlers 
in the valley of the Mississippi, brought a constantly swell- 
ing tide of immigration to our shores, and so increased the 
population that within twenty years from this time there 
were four millions of people in the States west of the 
Alleghanies. 

The Slavery Agitation. — As all of the original thir- 
teen States owned slaves — as slavery was distinctly recog- 
nized in the Constitution of the United States — and as 
Congress, on the 23d of March, 1790, in response to a peti- 
tion for the abolition of slavery from the Quakers, of Penn- 
sylvania, headed by Benjamin Franklin, had distinctly 
declared " that Congress has no authority to interfere in the 
emancipation of skn'es, or in the treatment of them within any 
of the States, it remaining zvith the sc-c'cral States alone to pro- 
ride any reguhitions therein zvhich humanity, and true poliey 
may require " — it was hoped that the slavery question would 
not again come into the National Councils. 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 173 

New England, after monopolizing' the Slave Trade for 
years, and fighting against its abolition, had gotten rid of 
her slaves, not on moral, but on purely economic grounds. 
She found that in her climate, and with her industries, 
African slavery zvoitld not pay, and so she got rid of her 
slaves, not by setting them free, but by selHng them to 
Southern planters, and quietly pocketing the money with- 
out the slightest suspicion that she had been " dealing in 
human chattels," or " selling human flesh, and immortal 
souls." 

Other States had pursued the same policy (Rhode Island 
had five slaves, and Connecticut seventeen as late as 1840) 
until "Mason and Dixon's line," and the Ohio river sep- 
arated the slave from the free States. 

The States were now very evenly divided between free 
and slave States, and each section was sharply watching 
the other, that it might gain no advantage in the admission 
of new States. 

The Missouri Compromise. — The request of Mis- 
souri to be admitted as a State caused a discussion in Con- 
gress as to whether she should be allowed to come in with 
or without slavery. The wrangle was so bitter that more 
than one patriot clearly foresaw the fearful conflict which 
came forty years later. 

Missouri was a part of the " Louisiana purchase," and 
the friends of the admission of Missouri argued that as by 
the very terms of the cession of this territory by Spain the 
people were to be given all of the rights, and privileges of 
the original States, that it was unconstitutional to inquire 
whether Missouri should or should not be a slave State, but 
that this question belonged solely to the State itself. But 
the other side were determined not to admit her as a slave 
State, and succeeded in the House of Representatives, in 
February, 181 9, in incorporating an amendment requiring 



174 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Missouri to abolish slavery before her admission into the 
Union. The Senate rejected this amendment, but the State 
failed of her admission, and her application next session 
produced another violent debate, and the passage again by 
the House of the same amendment. 

The Senate tacked a bill admitting Missouri as a slave 
State on to one admitting Maine as a free State, and a 
" dead lock " ensued until Senator Thomas of Illinois intro- 
duced the proposition which finally passed, and has been 
known ever since as the " Missouri Compromise," which 
provided that Missouri should be admitted as a " slave " 
State, but that all of the " Louisiana purchase " lying north 
of the line of the southern boundary of Missouri should be 
" free " territory. 

The bill, with this amendment incorporated, passed the 
Senate on the 17th of February, 1820. but was at first re- 
jected by the House, and only passed after repeated " con- 
ference committees " had labored over it, and the opposition 
became satisfied that only by this compromise could Mis- 
souri or Maine he admitted. 

The President (with the concurrence of his Cabinet, in- 
cluding John C. Calhoun) approved the act March 3d, 1820, 
and under it Maine was promptly admitted into the Union. 

But Missouri having in the meantime adopted a new 
Constitution containing a clause to the efifect that free 
negroes should not be permitted to enter the State, the 
House voted that she was not in the Union, h&r electoral 
votes were rejected, and another struggle for her admission 
ensued. 

Henry Clay of Kentucky, who had not been specially 
prominent in the previous debates, as he was Speaker of the 
House, now came to the front as Missouri's champion, and 
by his winning manners, and eloquent speeches finally suc- 
ceeded in having passed a joint resolution of Congress to 



SCHOOL lllSTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 175 

the effect that Missouri should be admitted as soon as she 
should declare her willingness to give all citizens of the 
Union coming within her territory the privileges, and 
inmiunities guaranteed to them by the Constitution of the 
United States. This the State promptly did, and on the 
loth of August, 1 82 1, President Monroe declared, by 
proclamation, that Missouri was a State of the Union. 

The pro-slavery men accepted this action as a compromise, 
though they emphatically denied that Congress had any 
right to interfere with the domestic affairs of a State, and 
insisted upon the validity of the action of 1790 on this 
question. 

Many of the ablest men, even at the North, held that 
the " Missouri Compromise " was unconstitutional, and 
Thomas Jefferson, in his retirement at Monticello, wrote to 
Mr. Holmes of Alassachusetts, who had ably maintained in 
Congress that the measure was unconstitutional : " This 
momentous question, like a fire hell in the night, awakened 
me, and filled me with terror. I considered it at once as 
the knell of the Union. It is hushed, indeed, for the mo- 
ment, but it is a reprieve only, not a final sentence." 

The Monroe Doctrine. — South America for many 
years had been disturbed by revolutions, which seemed to 
be the chronic state of the people. The different provinces 
had long been held by monarchies in Europe. These prov- 
inces declared their independence, and in 1822 Congress 
passed an act recognizing them. In his seventh annual 
message, in September, 1823, the President declared that 
from that time forward no part of the American continent 
was to be considered as territory for colonization by any 
European power, and that on the other hand, the United 
States would not meddle with affairs in Europe, or seek 
" entangling alliances " on that continent. This consti- 
tuted the " Monroe Doctrine," which for a time was one of 
the cardinal principles of the American Union. 



176 aCHOOL HISTORY OF TEE UNITED STATES. 

Lafayette's Visit. — One of the pleasing features of 
Monroe's administrations was the visit made to this country 
by Lafayette in 1824. America could never forget his 
services during the Revolution, and he was received every- 
where with the highest honors. His tour extended through 
every State, and he made a touching visit to the tomb of 
Washington at Mount Vernon. He laid the corner-stone 
of Bunker Hill Monument, June 17, 1825, fifty years after 
the battle. He sailed from this country in the frigate 
Brandyivinc, named in compliment to him, as he had been 
wounded in the battle of that name. Congress presented 
him while here with a township of land, and the sum of 
$200,000. 

Admission of Mississippi. — Mississippi was admitted 
as the twentieth State, December 10, 1817. The region 
was first visited 'by De Soto, the discoverer of the " Father 
of Waters." In 1699, Biloxi was founded. A settlement 
was made on the Yazoo in 1703, but the white population 
was annihilated a quarter of a century later by the Indians. 
Fierce wars continued with the Indians for many years. In 
1763, it formed a part of the territory ceded to England by 
France. The Mississippi Territory was formed in 1798, 
several additions being made afterwards. 

Admission of Illinois Illinois became a State, De- 
cember 3, 1818. The French planted a few settlements in 
the territory toward the close of the seventeenth century. 
Illinois Territory, as constituted, included the pr-esent States 
of Illinois, Wisconsin and a portion of Minnesota. Like its 
neighbors, Illinois suffered greatly from the enmity of the 
Indians, but its later prosperity is one of the marvels of the 
century. 

Admission of Alabama — ■ Alabama, the twenty-second 
State, was admitted December 14, 1819. It was originally 
a part of Georgia. The first settlement was made on 



SCHOOL IILSTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 177 

Mobile Bay in 1702. The city of Mobile was founded in 
171 1. It was long the centre of French colonization in the 
vast Louisiana Territory. 

Internal Improvements. — Railways were as yet un- 
known, and it became a pressing necessity to increase facil- 
ities for travel, and traftic between the East and the West. 
Under the wise leadership of Governor CHnton, New York 
begun in 181 7, and completed in 1825, the great Erie Canal, 
which is 363 miles long, and extends from Albany on the 
Hudson to the eastern end of Lake Erie. 

Jefiferson favored an amendment to the Constitution turn- 
ing over to the States for education and Internal Improve- 
ments the surplus in the Federal Treasury. 

Presidential Election of 1824. — There were four 
Presidential candidates before the country : John Quincy 
Adams, General Andrew Jackson, William H. Crawford, 
and Henry Clay. New England supported Adams, the 
extreme South adhered to Jackson, Virginia favored Craw- 
ford, while Clay was supported by the West. The chief con- 
test was between Jackson and Adams, but none of the four 
received votes enough to elect him. This threw the choice 
into the House of Representatives, which chose Adams, 
with John C. Calhoun of South Carolina as Vice-President. 

Questions.— Give a biographical sketch of the fifth President. 
What is said of the era of good feeling? Give an account of the 
Seminole War. Of the purchase of Florida. Steamboats on the 
rivers and lakes. Of the first ocean steamer. What of the slavery 
agitation? Explain the steps which led to the " Missouri Com- 
promise," and what that measure meant. The Monroe Doctn'ne. 
When was Mississippi admitted? Admission of Illinois. When 
was Alabama admitted? What of internal improvements? Give 
an account of the presidential election of 1824. 



178 SCHOOL UISTOIiY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

CHAPTER XIX. 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS'S ADMINISTRATION. (1825-1829.) 

John Quincy Adams. — 

John Quincy Adams, the sixth 
President, and son of 'the sec- 
ond President, was horn at 
Quincy, Mass., July 11, 1767. 
He was a precocious child, 
and received the best possible 
educational advantages. His 
mother was a woman of re- 
markable talents, and the son 
was educated at Paris, Leyden, 
and The Hague, and graduated 
at Harvard College when 
twenty-one years old. His ability caused President Wash- 
ington to appoint him minister to The Hague, and after- 
wards to Portugal. When his father became President, he 
transferred his son to Berlin. He was United States Sen- 
ator in 1803, and six years later was made minister to 
Russia. He served as Monroe's Secretary of State 
throughout both his administrations. When he became 
President, it was against the popular demand for Jackson, 
and he found powerful political elements arrayed against 
him. Vice-President Calhoun was one of the strongest of 
the opposition. As a consequence, his administration was 
a stormy one, and cannot be regarded as successful. Two 
years after his retirement from the Presidential chair, he 
was elected to Congress, and held that office continuously 
until February 21, 1848, when he was stricken with paraly- 
sis, while on the floor of Congress, and died two days later. 




f^CHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 179 

The Tariff The North and South held diverse views 

regarding the tariff. The North favored a protective tariff, 
because it was largely engaged in manufactures, which were 
made more profitable, because of the duty imposed on im- 
ported articles. The South opposed it for the reason that 
there were few, if any, manufactures in that section, and as 
a consequence they were obliged to pay higher prices for 
manufactured articles. Taxes of this nature form what is 
called a " protective tariff," while taxes intended to raise 
money simply to support the government constitute a 
" revenue tariff." The Whig party, which was soon after- 
ward formed, favored the protective tariff and a system of 
internal improvements, which together formed the " Ameri- 
can system." Henry Clay was the foremost leader of the 
Whig party and the champion of the American system. At 
the session of 1827-1828, Congress passed a tari'ff bill, which 
imposed so many high duties that it gave great offense to 
the South. 

The Death of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson — 
One of the most impressive events in the younger Adams's 
administration was the death of the second and third Presi- 
dents, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, which took place 
on the 4th of July, 1826, just fifty years after the signing of 
the Declaration of Independence, with which they had more 
to do than any other two men. Many people saw in the 
circumstance something deeper than a simply coincidence. 

The First Railway Lines In the month of May, 

1829, three small railway locomotives, made in England, 
were unloaded at the West Point foundry, at the foot of 
Beach street. New York city. One of these locomotives 
was transported piecemeal to Honesdale, Pa., and August 9 
was run on the tracks of the canal company's railway, be- 
tween Honesdale and Prompton. This was the first loco- 
motive that ever turned a wheel on a .railwav track in 



180 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

America. A track two miles long connected Milton and 
Quincy, Mass., and was laid in 1826, the cars being drawn 
by horses. 

The Pioneer Railroad of America The pioneer rail- 
road of America, intended for passengers and freight, was 
the Baltimore & Ohio. 

The First Railroad that Intended to Use Steam 

The South Carolina Railroad was the first railroad ever built 
in the world designed for the use of steam as the locomotive 
power. Its charter was granted in 1827. It was 136 miles 
long, and connected Charleston and Hamburg. 

Trouble about Creek Lands In 1802, Georgia 

ceded to the General Government the territory out of which 
Alabama and Mississippi were afterwards formed, on con- 
dition that it should secure for her the lands of the Chero- 
kee Indians, lying within her borders. 

The General Government delayed carrying out its con- 
tract until there were loud complaints by the people of 
Georgia. In 1825, William Mcintosh, chief of the Creeks, 
negotiated a treaty by which their lands were ceded, but 
the Indians generally repudiated this treaty, and showed 
their indignation by murdering Mcintosh. Meantime Gov- 
ernor Troup of Georgia had surveyors at work to lay ofif, 
and take possession of the lands. The Indians sent a dele- 
gation to Washington to protest against this, and President 
Adams sent United States troops to Georgia, and threatened 
to arrest the surveyors. Governor Troup replied that he 
would repel force with force, and a collision seemed immi- 
nent, but a treaty satisfactory to the Indians was made, and 
they agreed to remove to the Indian Territory. This they 
did, most of them within two years. 

Presidential Election of 1828 The demand of the 

people that Jackson should be their President could no 
longer be denied. He and Adams were pitted against each 



SCHOOL HT STORY OP THE UNITED STATES. 181 

Other, with the result that while Adams received eighty- 
three, Jackson was given 178 electoral votes. Calhoun was 
re-elected to the Vice-Presidency. Jackson's supporters 
now became known as " Democrats," while his opponents 
were " National Republicans," changed soon afterwards to 
" Whigs." 

Questions Give a biographical sketch of the sixth President. 

Show the eiifect of a protective tariff North and South. Give a 
history of tlie first railway locomotive used in America. Tell of 
the presidential election of 1828. 



CHAPTER XX. 

JACKSON'S ADMINISTRATION. (1829-1837.) 

Andrew Jackson An- 
drew Jackson, seventh Presi- 
dent, was born at Cureton's 
Bend, N. C, March 13, 1767, 
and died June 8, 1845. His 
father died just after the birth 
of the son. The mother was 
extremely poor. When only 
thirteen years old, Andrew 
took part in the battle of 
Hanging Rock. He and an 
elder brother were made pris- 
oners, and ordered by a British" 
officer to clean his boots. They refused, and were struck 
by the ofificer with his sword. It is said the brother died 
from the effects of the blow. Andrew would have suffered 
death before obeying. His remaining brother was killed 
while fighting for his country. The mother passed away 
soon after, so that at the close of the Revolution, Andrew 
was the only member of the family alive. 




182 . iiCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Jackson began the study of law, and, when a young man, 
moved to Tennessee. It was a rough country in those 
days, but he was at home among people of that class. He 
had a fiery temper, and was always ready to fight. He took 
part in a number of duels and was badly wounded several 
times. In one duel, he killed the most famous pistol shot 
in the Southwest. He was elected to the State Legislature, 
but took little part in the proceedings. He was afterwards 
elected a judge of the supreme court of the State and a 
major-general of militia. He did excellent service in the 
war against the Creek Indians and in the war of 1812. His 
brilliant victory at New Orleans made him President. With 
his imperious temper, his self-will and his hatred of his 
enemies, he was of spotless integrity, intensely patriotic, 
pure in his private life, and with not a " dishonest hair in his 
head." His popularity not only caused his triumphant 
election a second time, but enabled him to choose his suc- 
cessor. 

"To the Victors Belong the Spoils." — Jackson 
carried his resistless will into the Presidential chair. He 
started out with the principle that his friends were to be re- 
warded, and his enemies punished. He adopted the theory 
that in politics the spoils belong to the victors. During his 
Presidency, he turned 2000 political opponents out of office. 
His predecessor had removed only seventy-four. It is 
worthy of note that this precedent set by Jackson has since 
been followed by most of our Presidents, and that with each 
new Administration there are thousands of changes in the 
ofifice holders. Under Jackson it was decided that the 
Postmaster-General should be a member of the cabinet. 

The United States Bank Jackson did not like the 

United States Bank, whose charter expired in 1836. He 
vetoed the bill renewing its charter, and, as the necessary 
two-thirds vote could not be secured to pass the bill over 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. . 183 

his veto, the bank went out of existence. There was great 
excitement over his action, but his course was so fuhy ap- 
proved that at his second election, he received 219 electoral 
votes out of a total of 286. 

Having thus the approval of the people, Jackson was 
more decided than ever in his opposition to the United 
States Bank, and during the vacation of Congress, in 1833, 
he ordered the Secretary of the Treasury to deposit all of 
the public funds, as they came in, in certain State Banks, 
and to check out as rapidly as possible all Government 
funds in the United States Bank, and as the Secretary of 
the Treasury, William J. Duane, had serious doubts as to 
the authority of the Executive to change these deposits 
without a special act of Congress, Jackson promptly re- 
moved him from ofifice, and appointed in his place Roger 
B. Taney (afterwards Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court), 
who had no scruples in obeying the direction of the Presi- 
dent, and removing the deposits in October, 1833. 

Clay, Webster, and Calhoun were very much opposed to 
the action of the President, and succeeded in having the 
Senate pass a strong resolution of censure of the President 
and Secretary, claiming that it was an attempt " to unite 
the sword and purse in one hand," whereas the power of 
guarding the public treasure belonged to Congress. 

The House refused to concur in the resolution of censure,, 
Jackson issued an able '' protest " in reply, Thomas H. 
Benton afterwards moved that the resolution of censure be 
expunged from the Senate records by drawing black lines 
around, and over it. and this was done, after a long and 
very exciting debate lasting until February, 1837, by a vote 
of 24 to 19. 

The opponents of the President's policy now united 
under the name of " The Whig Party " — a name which is 



184 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATEfi. 

said to have been suggested by Calhoun, after the party in 
England that opposed oppressive acts of the Government. 

Nullification. — An act was passed in the spring of 1832 
imposing additional duties on imported goods. South 
Carolina was so angered that she declared the act unconsti- 
tutional and, therefore, null and void. She determined to 
resist the collection of the duties within her borders by force 
of arms if necessary. Jackson sympathized with the State, 
but his determination never wavered. He threatened to 
arrest Vice-President Calhoun, who was a citizen of South 
Carolina. Calhoun resigned, and .became a United States 
Senator. 

It was in the discussion of these questions that the cele- 
brated debate 'between Senators Daniel Webster of Massa- 
chusetts and Robert Y. Hayne of South Carolina occurred 
Hayne maintained that Congress had no power, under the 
Constitution, to pass a " Protective Tariff " 'bill, which he 
claimed was simply robbing the agricultural people of the 
South to enrich the manufacturers of the North, and that if 
such an unconstitutional act was passed, then any State 
aggrieved would have the right to nullify the law so far as 
that State was concerned, or at least to suspend its execu- 
tion until a convention of the States should pass on its 
constitutionality. 

Webster, who had formerly been a low tariff, even a 
" free trade " man, now took strong ground in favor of a 
high " protective tarOT,'" and against " Nullification," de- 
spite the record of his State. His speeches and Hayne's 
are rare specimens of eloquence. Webster's has been widely 
published in School Readers, and books on oratory. 

After Hayne had resigned his place in the Senate to 
become Governor of South Carolina, and Calhoun had been 
returned to the Senate, the discussion was renewed, and 
Calhoun and Webster met in high debate on questions of 



18G SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

State sovereignty, the constitutional right of Congress to 
pass Protective Tariff laws, the right of a State to nullify 
laws of Congress which she believed unconstitutional, the 
right of a State to secede; and kindred questions. 

Henry Clay now came into the Senate, and took an 
active part in the debates, and " there were giants in the 
land " when Calhoun, Clay, and Webster — " the great 
Triumvirate," as they were called — were in the Senate. 

Clay promptly proposed a compromise, which seemed 
antagonistic to his " American System," and being told that 
this would injure his prospects for the Presidency, he gave 
the noble reply : " / Jiad rather be right than President." 

Right or wrong in this matter of " NulUfication," South 
Carolina was only following the precedent set by the New 
England States when, during the war of 1812, they nullified 
laws of Congress, and laid plans to secede from the Union, 
which were only stopped by the close of the war before the 
date fixed for their execution. 

But it ought to be said that there is a radical difference 
between " Nullification " — which held that a State might 
remain in the Union and receive all of its benefits, and at 
the same time set at naught the laws of the general govern- 
ment — and " Secession," which held that while a State 
should obey the laws of the general government as long as 
she remained in the Union, yet she had the right to wifh- 
draiv from the Union whenever she thought that her interests 
demanded that she should do so. 

In his ■ " Farewell to the Senate," Mr. Jefferson Davis 
made this distinction very clear, and Mr. Calhoun argued 
very ably for " Nullification," on the ground that it was the 
best way to prevent " Secession " and preserve the Union. 

The President issued a proclamation, warning the South 
Carolinians against their course, and assuring them that the 
laws would be enforced. In this critical juncture of affairs, 



SCHOOL IIIHTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 187 

Henry Clay came forward with a plan of compromise, 
which proved acceptable. Congress passed an act in 1833, 
which gradually reduced the scale of duties for ten years, at 
which time they were to reach the point of " tariff for reve- 
nue " only. This proved satisfactory to South Carolina, 
she repealed her Nullification ordinance, and the war cloud 
vanished. 

The Black Hawk War. — Black Hawk, a famous 
chief, led the Sacs, Fox, and Winnebago Indians in an 
effort to prevent their removal from the territory of Wis- 
consin to the lands assigned them in low^a. 

General Winfield Scott was sent against them, and al- 
though his troops suffered greatly at Rock Island from the 
fearful scourge of cholera, which visited the United States 
for the first time in 1832, he defeated the Indians in August 
of that year, captured Black Hawk and his two sons, and 
ended the war. 

The Seminole War Osceola, a brave chief of the 

Seminoles in Florida, was very harshly treated by General 
Thompson, who put him in irons. In revenge he led his 
people in a fierce war. Major Dade and his command of 
150 men were ambushed, and all but two of them killed. 
General Thompson and five of his officers, while dining at 
a house near Fort King, were surrounded and killed by a 
party led by Osceola himself, and many other outrages were 
committed by the Indians, who retreated, when pursued, 
into the almost impenetrable swamps and everglades. 

Osceola was received into the American camp under a 
flag of truce, and treacherously seized and imprisoned in 
Fort Moultre, Charleston harbor, where he died. 

Christmas day, 1837, Colonel Zachary Taylor fought a 
desperate battle with the Indians on an island in Lake 
Okeechobee, and gained a decisive victory over them. 

But the war dragged its slow length along — the Indians 



188 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE VMTED STATES. 

liolding and hiding in the everglades — until 1842, when 
General William J. Worth succeeded in bringing it to a 
close, nearly all of the Indian warriors having been killed. 

Admission of Arkansas Arkansas, the twenty-fifth 

State, came into the Union, June 15, 1836. It was visited 
and settled by the P'rench as early as 1685. When Missouri 
became a State, Arkansas was organized into a Territory, 
including not only the present State, but a considerable 
portion of Indian Territory. 

Admission of Michigan The next State to be ad- 
mitted was Michigan, January 26, 1837. Like Arkansas 
and other adjoining States, it was visited by traders and 
Jesuit missionaries, towards the close of the seventeenth 
century. Detroit was founded in 1701. Michigan under- 
went a number of territorial changes, and became a distinct 
Territory in 1805, its present boundaries being defined 
when it became a State. 

Crusade Against Slavery. — The " Missouri Com- 
promise " by no means settled the slavery question, as its 
friends hoped it would. 

Benjamin Lundy, a Quaker of New Jersey, William 
Lloyd Garrison of Boston, and other leaders kept up the 
agitation, and the press, the platform, and the pulpit kept 
up a tirade of abuse and slander of Southern slaveholders. 
Abolition societies sent pamphlets and circulars South to 
stir up the non-slaveholding class, and the negroes, and 
flooded Congress with petitions for the abolition of slavery. 

In 1836, the Senate voted, almost unanimously, against a 
petition to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, and 
the House voted that Congress had no constitutional au- 
thority in the States, and ( by an over two-thirds' vote) that 
it would not consider further petitions on the subject. 

Many of the leaders at the South favored the gradual 
emancipation of the slaves, and there can be but little doubt 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 189 

that Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri, and prob- 
ably other States, would have abolished slavery had not the 
bitter attacks driven them to stand up for their constitu- 
tional rights. 

The Nat Turner insurrection of negroes in Southampton 
county, Virginia, in 1831, in which sixty white people were 
massacred and Nat Turner and a number of the negro lead- 
ers hung, and the threat of similar uprisings in other parts 
of the South, intensified the bitter feeling of the South 
against the Abolitionists, who were the instigators of these 
troubles, and consolidated the pro-slavery sentiment. 

Jackson, like Washington, issued a " farewell address " 
to the people, and retired to his home at " the Hermitage," 
near Nashville, Tenn., where he died on the 8th of June, 
1845. 

Presidential Election of 1836. — The Presidential 
candidates in the fall of 1836 were Martin A^an Buren, 
Democrat; William Henry Harrison, Whig; Hugh L. 
White, Whig ; Daniel Webster, Whig, and W. P. Mangum, 
Whig. Van Buren was elected, but no candidate for the 
Vice-Presidency secured a majority in the electoral college. 
The Senate elected Colonel Richard M. Johnson, of Ken- 
tucky, to that office. 

Questions. — Give a biographical sketch of the seventh Presi- 
dent. Show how President Jackson illustrated the doctrine " To 
the victors belong the spoils." What did he do regarding the 
United States Bank? What brought about the flurry of nullifica- 
tion? Give a history of the Black Hawk War. What is said of 
the Seminoles? Give a brief history of Arkansas. Of Michigan. 
Abolition agitation. The presidential election of 1833. 



190 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



CHAPTER XXI. 




VAN BUREN'S ADMINISTRATION. (1837-1841.) 

Martin Van Buren. — 

Martin Van Buren, the eighth 
President, was born at Kinder- 
hook, N. Y., December 5, 
1782. It will be noticed that 
he was the first President not 
born a British subject. His 
education was limited ; he be- 
came a lawyer, and while yet a 
young man, took rank as a 
leading politician. He was 
elected a State Senator in 1812, 
and again in 18 16. From 181 5 
to 1819, he was x\ttorney-General of New York. He was a 
United States Senator from 1821 to 1828, resigning in the 
latter year to become Governor of his native State. He 
was Secretary of State under Jackson from 1829 to 1831, 
when he was made minister to England. The Senate re- 
jected his nomination, because of what was deemed his 
weak course toward England while Secretary of State. He 
had his triumph, however, when he was elected Vice-Presi- 
dent and presided over the body that had refuse.d to confirm 
him as minister to England. He withdrew from the Demo- 
cratic party in 1848 and formed the " Free Democratic 
party," which amounted to little. He soon retired from 
politics, and died at Ivinderhook, July 24, 1862. 

The Crisis of 1837. — Now came a period of wretched 
business methods, unlimited credit, and wild speculation, fol- 
lowed by one of the severest panics in the history of our 



SCHOOL HI/STORY OF THE UNITED t^TATES. 191 

country. Mercantile houses failed by the hundred, the 
banks suspended specie payments and disaster swept 
through the land like a cyclone. In March and April, 1837, 
the failures in New York and New Orleans amounted to 
$150,000,000. The time arrived when even the government 
could not pay its obligations, because its money was depos- 
ited in State banks which could not pay. Eight States be- 
came bankrupt ; speculation was rampant, until gold was 
the only money that was accepted anywhere. Congress 
was called together in September. The President, in his 
message, proposed the establishment of an independent 
treasury — this was called the "Sub-Treasury" scheme — 
for the safe keeping of the public funds and their removal 
from all banking institutions. The bill failed, but became 
a law in 1840, and has proven a good one. The business of 
the country gradually righted itself. In 1838, most of the 
banks resumed species payments, i. e., paid their notes in 
gold or silver ; commercial affairs mended, and the country, 
rich in resources, swung back in time to prosperity again. 

The Mormons. — The pestilent sect known as Mormons 
began to occupy public attention. Joseph Smith, of Pal- 
myra, New York, was their founder. This mistaken man, 
in 1830, pretended to have found some golden plates having 
the Mormon " Bible " divinely engraved upon them. The 
most grotesque faith is sure to have followers, and they 
began gathering round him. They made their first settle- 
ment at Jackson, Mo., where their practices were so abom- 
inable that they were driven out of the State. 

Crossing the Mississippi, in the spring of 1839, into Illi- 
nois, they laid out a city, which was named Nauvoo. A 
fine temple was erected, and the adherents increased to 
10,000. They were defiant, and passed laws contrary to 
those of the State. During the rioting which followed, a 



J 92 tiCUOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED ."STATES. 

mob broke into the jail where Joseph Smith and his brother 
were confined and kihed both. The Legislature in the 
following summer annulled the charter of Nauvoo. A 
migration westward took place in 1846, and, crossing the 
Rocky mountains, the Mormons founded Salt Lake City, 
which has been their headquarters ever since. 

Our Northeastern Boundary A leading event of 

1842 was the signing of the Webster-Ashburton Treaty 
(August 9). The territorial limit of the United States in 
the northeast was defined so indefinitely by the treaty of 
1783 that no agreement could be reached by Great Britain 
and the LTnited States. The dispute lasted until 1842, when 
it was settled by Lord Ashburton, acting for England, and 
Daniel Webster, acting for the United States. After a long 
but friendly discussion, these two eminent men agreed upon 
the boundary as it is today, and the treaty was signed in 
Washington on the 9th of August. 

Antarctic Exploration. — Our government sent out an 
exploring expediiion in 1838 to traverse the Southern ocean. 
It was under the command of Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, 
and was gone for four years, during which his squadron 
sailed 90,000 miles, examined the shores of Oregon and 
California, and coasted for 1700 miles along the shores of 
the Antarctic continent. The south pole is so walled in by 
ice that navigators cannot approach it anywhere as near as 
they can to the north pole. 

Presidential Election of 1840. — The Whig candidates 
for the Presidency and Vice-Presidency were General Wil- 
liam Henry Harrison and John Tyler, while the Democrats 
put forward Van Buren, but could not agree on a candidate 
for the Vice-Presidency. Though Van Buren was really 
not responsible for the panic of 1837, yet the people held 
him responsible, and wanted a change of administration. 
The Whig ticket was elected by a large majority. 



t^CEOOL HTSTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 193 

Questions. — Give a biographical sketch of President Van Buren. 
What is the history of the panic of 1837? What is related concern- 
ing the Mormons? How was our northeastern boundary settled? 
Give an account of the antartic exploring expedition. What of 
the presidential election of 1840? 

CHAPTER XXII. 

HARRISON'S AND TYLER'S ADMINISTRATION. 

(1841-1845.) 

William Henry Harrison. 

— The ninth President was 
l^orn at Berkeley, Va., Febru- 
ary 9, 1773. He was the son 
of Benjamin Harrison, a signer 
of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, and the adopted son 
of Robert Morris, the famous 
financier of the Revolution. 
After graduating from Hamp- 
den-Sidney College, he became 
a student of medicine. He was 
fond of a military life, and, 
entering the army of St. Clair, rapidly won promotion. He 
was made Secretary of the Northwest Territory in 1797, 
and elected its first delegate to Congress in 1799. He 
afterward became Governor of Indiana Territory. He ren- 
dered his country brilliant service in the war of 1812, and 
was a United States Senator from 1825 to 1828, when he 
was appointed minister to the Republic of Colombia in 
South America. Having been defeated by Van Burew for 
the Presidency in 1836, he, in turn, defeated him in 1840. 
He died just one month after his inauguration, and was 
succeeded by the Vice-President, who acted with the 
Democrats. 




194 



SCHOOL Elf^TORY OF TEE UNITED STATES. 




John Tyler John Tyler. 

was born at Greenway, Va., 
March 29, 1790, and died Janu- 
ary 18, 1862. He was a man of 
great ability, was a practicing 
lawyer at the age of nineteen, 
and a member of the Virginia 
Legislature when twenty-one 
years old. He became Gov- 
ernor of Virginia at thirty-five, 
and was a United States Sen- 
ator from 1827 to 1836. He 
resigned his seat in the Senate 
because he was not willmg to obey the instructions of the 
Virginia Legislature to vote for expunging the resolution 
censuring President Jackson. 

The Whigs nominated him for Vice-President on the 
ticket with General Harrison because he seemed to be the 
most " available " Southern man, and agreed with them on 
some of their most important views, but his election and 
elevation to the Presidency placed him in a really false posi- 
tion, as he had acted with the Democrats during most of 
his political life, and while independent and conscientious 
in breaking with them on some of their measures, still 
agreed with the Democrats rather than with the Whigs on 
most of their cardinal principles. 

An ardent States' Rights man. President Tyler soon 
broke with the Whig party on some of their measures which 
he regarded as unconstitutional, and had to submit to the 
abuse heaped upon him by the party which elected him. 
This he bore calmly, and firmly adhered to what he con- 
scientiously believed to be right. 

He was President of the " Peace Conference," which was 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 195 

called at the instance of Virginia, and met in Washington, 
February 4th, 1861. 

He was, after the secession of Virginia, one of the ablest 
members of the Confederate Congress until his death, which 
occurred in the midst of the great " War between the 
States." 

Tyler Vetoes the Bank Bills. — Congress very 
promptly, on assembling, repealed the " Sub-Treasury " 
law enacted during the last administration, and proceeded 
to pass a new law which should provide for the care of 
public funds. Under the lead of Clay, a bill was passed 
which estabhshed, with some modifications, the old United 
States Bank, but the President, who had always been op- 
posed to this Bank, vetoed the bill, and Congress could not 
command the two-thirds vote necessary to pass it over his 
veto. A second bill, modified to meet the President's ob- 
jections, as was supposed, met the same fate. 

He, also, vetoed in 1842 two successive "High Tarifif " 
bills, but signed a third, which was not so objectionable to 
him. 

These several vetoes aroused great excitement, and the 
Whig party was divided into friends and opponents of the 
President. 

Tyler had retained all of the members of Harrison's Cabi- 
net, and they all, on his veto of the Bank bills, except Web- 
ster, resigned, and Webster resigned, also, as soon as he 
could complete certain treaty negotiations, on which, as 
Secretary of State, he was then engaged. But Tyler 
promptly accepted their resignations, and appointed other 
men of such great ability, and high character, that the Sen- 
ate was obliged to confirm their appoinment. 

The Dorr Rebellion. — Rhode Island was governed 
down to the year 1842 by the charter received from Charles 
II in 1663. The right of suffrage was restricted to those 



196 SCHOOL HISTORY OF TtlE UNITED STATES. 

who owned property and to their oldest sons. The grow- 
ing dissatisfaction caused the formation of two poHtical par- 
ties. The one in favor of unrestricted suffrage adopted a 
State constitution, elected a legislature, and chose Thomas 
W. Dorr, Governor. The opposing party did likewise, and 
elected their Governor. They gained the start, and de- 
clared their purpose of putting down the " rebellion." Ar- 
rests followed, and Dorr fled from the little State. He soon 
returned with an armed force, and the Federal Government 
was obliged to interfere. His forces were scattered, and 
Dorr was convicted of treason in 1844 and condemned to 
imprisonment for life. The following year, however, he 
was set free. Meanwhile, Rhode Island formed a new con- 
stitution, which went into efifect in 1843, ^^'^^ which met in 
large measure the views of the Dorr party. 

The Boundary Question With England Settled. — 
There was a question between England and the United 
States in reference to the Northwestern boundary even 
more serious than that in reference to the Northeastern 
bovmdary between Maine and the British possessions. 

The United States claimed that the real boundary was 
54° 40', and at one time the dispute waxed so warm that the 
poeple demanded, and the newspapers rang with the cry : 
" Fifty-four forty or fight." 

Webster and Lord Ashburton again negotiated a treaty, 
which was signed in 1846, fixing on the forty-ninth parallel 
of latitude as the boundary line. This gave ta the United 
States the territory out of which the States of Oregon, 
Idaho, and Washington have since been formed. 

Invention of the Magnetic Telegraph Tyler's ad- 
ministration saw the completion of the invention of the 
magnetic telegraph. S. F. B. Morse, a native of Massachu- 
setts, had studied and experimented for many years, 
through discouragement and poverty, before he secured an 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 197 

appropriation from Congress for the erection of a wire 
between Washington and Baltimore, upon which to make 
the decisive test. The first message sent over the wire 
consisted of the words, " What hath God wrought ! " This 
telegram is still preserved among the archives of the Con- 
necticut Historical Society. 

The Texas Revolution. — As we have seen, Spain 
claimed both Oregon and Texas, and the United States 
claimed Texas as a part of the " Louisiana purchase," but 
in the treaty of 1819 the United States gave up all claim to 
Texas, and Spain all claim to Oregon. 

After eleven years of revolution, Mexico obtained its in- 
dependence from Spain in 1821, and adopted a constitution 
similar to that of the United States. She united Texas with 
the Mexican State of Coahuila south of the Rio Grande, 
instead of allowing it to remain a separate Mexican State, 
with its capital at San Antonio, as the people desired. 

The Mexican Government at first encouraged immigra- 
tion to Texas from the United States, and made large 
grants of land to promoters of this immigration, called 
" empresarios." Moses Austin of Missouri thus secured a 
very large grant of lands, but as he died before he could 
carry out his colonization plans, his son, Stephen F. Austin.. 
look them up, and in 1821-25 located 300 famili:s on tne 
Brazos, and a large number of others within the following 
three years. This enterprise was followed by others, and 
by 1830 the English-speaking residents of Texas numbered 
30,000. 

The Mexicans became jealous of the Americans, and 
passed laws against allowing more emigrants to come from 
the United States, while encouraging them to come from 
other countries. 

The taxes levied on Texas were exorbitant, other outrages 
were perpetrated, and those who complained were punished. 



198 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

A convention of Texans assembled at San Felipe in 1833, 
and sent Stephen F. Austin to the City of Mexico with a 
strong memorial for the separation of Texas from Coahuila. 
Failing in his mission, he returned by way of Saltillo, and 
was there, imprisoned for nineteen months without trial, or 
the preferment of charges against him. 

Finding that they could not get the simplest justice in 
the " Republic " of Mexico, the Texans resolved upon 
achieving their independence, and organized, November 
1 2th, 1835, a Provisional Government, with Henry Smith 
as Governor, and J. W. Robertson as Lieutenant-Governor. 

March 2d, 1836, a convention which had assembled at 
Washington, Texas, formally passed a Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, which declared Texas to be a " free, independent, 
and sovereign Republic." 

A constitution was adopted, and David G. Burnet and 
Lorenzo de Zavalla served as President and Vice-President 
until the close of the war, when, at a popular election. Gen- 
eral Sam Houston and Mirabeau B. Lamar were chosen. 

Mexico confidently expected to coerce the " Texas 
Rebels " into submission, and sent across the border greatly 
superior forces to any Texas could raise. 

The Texans gained victories at Gonzales, October 2d, 
Conception, near San Antonio, October 28th, the capture 
of San Antonio, December 5th, 1835, and Colito, March 
19th, 1836. 

" The Alamo," a mission house at San Antonio, which 
had a fort attached to it, was defended by 144 Texans (rein- 
forced 'by thirty-two more heroes from Goliad, who cut 
their way through the Mexicans to join their comrades), 
commanded by Colonel Travis, who had under him Crock- 
ett, Bowie, and Bonham. 

They were surrounded by 4000 Mexicans, and their sur- 
render demanded, but these 176 heroes knew that surrender 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



199 



was death, and determined to sell their lives as dearly as 
possible. The siege was pressed for eleven days, the fight- 
ing was continued night and day, and when the final assault 
was made on March the 6th only a little handful of Texans 
remained. These neither asked nor gave quarter, and the 
last one of them was killed. 

Near Goliad, Colonel Fanin, with about 400 men, was 
surrounded by a Mexican force of more than 2000, and 
finding resistance useless, surrendered on the promise of 
being treated as prisoners of war, but several days later the 
Mexicans marched the prisoners out on the prairie, stood 
them up in rows, and barbarously shot them down. 

General Sam Houston, the commander-in-chief of the 
Texas forces, was a very unique character, and a man of 
real ability. Born in Rockbridge county, Virginia, he 
migrated to Tennessee, where he was sent to Congress, and 

then made Governor of the State. 
For some mysterious reason, 
never explained, he exiled himself 
from the whites, and lived for 
many years among the Indians, 
and then settled in Texas, where 
he became one of the most promi- 
nent leaders in the Revolution. 

With his small patriot force he 
retreated before Santa Anna, and 
his overwhelming numbers, until 
he succeeded in his object, which 
was to draw the enemy far from 
his base, and divide his army. 
The Mexican army was strung out along a distance of 
several miles, when, at San Jacinto, April 21st, 1836, Hous- 
ton turned, and, with 800 Texans, assailed the Mexicans 




SAM. HOUSTON. 



200 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

with irresistible fury, using as the battle-cry : " Remember 
the Alamo ! Remember Goliad." 

The army of Satita Anna was completely routed, with a 
loss of 630 killed, 208 wounded, and 730 prisoners, among 
whom was Santa Anna himself. 

Santa Anna made a treaty acknowledging the independ- 
ence of Texas, and although the Mexican Government re- 
fused to confirm this treaty, the Republic was virtually 
established at San Jacinto. 

Our Constitution was taken as a model, and the United 
States, England and France acknowledged the independ- 
ence of Texas. Houston was twice elected President. 

Annexation of Texas The large number of emi- 
grants from the United States who had settled in Texas, 
and contributed so much towards winning her independ- 
ence, were naturally in favor of being admitted into the 
Union as a State, and a proposition to that effect was pre- 
sented during 'both Jackson's and Van Buren's administra- 
tion, but it was defeated on the ground that it would inevit- 
ably result in war with Mexico, as she claimed Texas as a 
revolting province. 

Tyler favored the annexation, but it was bitterly opposed 
by the free States because it would add an immense terri- 
tory in which slavery existed, and might continue to exist 
under the terms of the '* Missouri Compromise." 

The State of Massachusetts went so far as to pass joint 
resolutions in 1844. and again on the 22d of February, 1845. 
protesting against the admission of Texas, and threatening 
to exercise her undoubted right to secede from the Union 
if Texas was annexed. This opposition caused the people 
of Texas to grow lukewarm to the annexation scheme, and 
some of her ablest, and most influential leaders to declare 
against it. 

But the Presidential canvass of 1844 having been con- 



SCHOOL niSrORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 201 

ducted on the issue ol annexation, or no annexation, and 
tlie Democrats, who favored annexation, carrying the elec- 
tion, Congress passed a bill admitting Texas as a slave 
State. 

Admission of Florida. — Florida, the twenty-seventh 
State, was admitted to the Union two days after Texas. It 
is noted as containing the oldest city (St. Augustine) in the 
Union. It was organized into the territories of East and 
West Florida in 1822. 

Presidential Election of 1844. — The question of the 
admission of Texas was the main issue in the Presidential 
election of 1844. The Democrats favored its admission, 
and nominated James K. Polk, of Tennessee, and George 
M. Dallas, of Pennsylvania. Henry Clay opposed the ad- 
mission of Texas, and favored the American system and 
the United States Bank. He would have been elected but 
for the diversion caused by the abolition vote, which put 
forward James G. Birney as its candidate. As it was, the 
Democratic candidates were successful. 

Questions. — Give a biographical sketch of the ninth President. 
Of the tenth President. What of Tyler's veto of the Bank bills? 
Dorr's Rebellion? The boundary question, and how settled? In- 
vention of the magnetic telegraph? The causes of the Texas Rev- 
olution? What of the victories of the Texans? The annexation of 
Texas? Admission of Florida? Presidential election of 1844? 



202 



SCHOOL HISTOBY OF TEE UNITED STATES. 




CHAPTER XXIIL 

POLK'S ADMINISTRATION. (1845-1849.) 

James K. Polk.— The 

eleventh President was born at 
Pineville, N. C, November 2, 
1795, and died June 15, 1849. 
His father removed to Tennes- 
see when the son was a boy, 
but he was educated at the 
University of North Carohna, 
where he graduated with first 
honor in 1818. Polk was 
elected to Congress in 1825, 
and served for fourteen years. 
He was for several years 
Speaker of the House, was a warm friend of Jackson, and 
an ardent supporter of his measures. In 1839, he became 
Governor of Tennessee, and was called from that office to 
assume the Presidency of the United States. President 
Polk was not what would be called a genius, but was a man 
of fine ability, high personal character, indomitable will, 
and untiring energy. 

War With Mexico Begins. — Mexico had never ac- 
knowledged the independence of Texas, although she had 
sent no army into the territory of the Republic after the 
battle of San Jacinto, and had plainly warned the United 
States that the annexation of Texas would be regarded as 
a cause of war. Soon after the inauguration of Polk, 
therefore, General Almonte, the Mexican Minister, de- 
manded his passports, and left Washington, friendly inter- 
course between the two countries ceased, and Mexico 
begun active preparations for war. 



iSVHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATEii. 203 

There was, also, a dispute between Mexico and Texas as 
to the boundary Hne between the State of Coahuila and 
Texas, whether it was the river Rio Grande (as Texas 
claimed), or the river Nueces (as Mexico claimed). The 
United States supported the claim of Texas. Add to this 
that large sums of money were due by Mexico to citizens 
of the United States, and that our citizens had been 
wronged, oppressed, and cruelly treated by Mexican ofifi- 
cials, and there seemed little doubt that war would certainly 
come. Accordingly, our government sent a strong force 
into Texas to be prepared for hostilities. The first conflict 
took place in April, 1846, the attack being made by the 
Mexicans, and resulted in the defeat of a small party of 
American dragoons, sixteen of whom were killed and 
wounded, and a number made prisoners. 

This invasion by the Mexicans of what was considered 
our territory, their attack upon our troops, and the shedding 
of the blood of our soldiers on our soil, excited great in- 
dignation, and aroused the war spirit of our people. 

The President sent a special message to Congress, May 
nth, 1846, in which he declared that " Mexico had invaded 
our territory, and shed the blood of our citizens on our 
own soil," and that " war exists, and, notwithstanding all 
of our efforts to avoid it, exists by the act of Mexico her- 
self." 

Congress very promptly passed an act by which, after' 
stating that " war exists by the act of Mexico," the Presi- 
dent was authorized to call for volunteers, and to accept 
fifty thousand " for the war," and appropriating ten million 
dollars for the prosecution of hostilities. Great enthusiasm 
.was manifested in some States, and three hundred thousand 
volunteers ofifered their services, of whom over three-fourths 
zvere from the South. 



204 hIVHOOL HIISTORY OF THE UNITED i^TATES. 

Taylor's First Victories. — General Zachary Taylor, 
who commanded on the Texas frontier, established Fort 
Brown on the Rio Grande (gran-da), opposite Matamoras, 
and Point Isabel on the Gulf as a depot of supply. While 
Taylor was at the latter point the Mexicans crossed the 
river and attacked Fort Brown. Taylor, hastening to its 
relief with two thousand men, met six thousand Mexicans 
at Palo Alto (May 8) and badly defeated them. 

The next day, near Fort Brown, the battle of Resaca de 
la Palma was fought, and the Mexicans received so crush- 
ing a defeat that they retreated in great confusion across the 
river to Matamoras. 

Plan of Campaign War having been declared (May 

II, 1846), the following plan of campaign was arranged: 
General Taylor was to hold the line of the Rio Grande ; 
General Kearney (kar'ni) was to cross the Rocky moun- 
tains, and conquer New Mexico, and California, and Gen- 
eral Scott was to land at Vera Cruz (varah krooz) and 
advance upon the city of Mexico. 

Capture of Monterey General Taylor waited some 

time on the Rio Grande for reinforcements, and supplies, 
and for definite instructions from his Government, for it 
nuist be remembered that he had no telegraphic, or even 
railway communication with Washington. But in Septem- 
ber he marched with a force of 6000 on Alonterey, which 
was strongl}^ fortified, and held by a Mexican force of 
12,000. After several days of severe fighting the town was 
carried by storm on September the 23d, and on the 24th 
the garrison capitulated. Colonel Jefferson Davis of Mis- 
sissippi, who had greatly distinguished himself in forcing 
the barricades in the streets, was one of the American Com- 
missioners, and when he rode into Monterey in the early 
hours of the 25th to secure from the Mexican General 
Ampudia a promised copy of the terms of capitulation 



ECHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 205 

properly signed, he was accompanied by his Hfe-Iong friend 
and comrade Albert Sidney Johnston, then serving on the 
staff of General Butler. 

The terms granted the Mexicans were most liberal, and 
an armistice of two months was agreed on in the hope that 
peace might be secured without further fighting. The 
government at Washington, however, repudiated this truce, 
and directed Taylor to resume hostilities, though at the 
same time ordering the larger part of his best troops to 
join General Scott in his advance on the City of Mexico 
from Vera Cruz. 

Battle of Buena Vista • Santa Anna had been exiled 

from Mexico, and was living in Havana, Cuba, and the 
United States authorities connived at his return to his 
country under the delusion that he would use his influence 
with his government to abandon all claims to Texas, and 
make peace. 

He was at once made Generallissimo of Mexico, and soon 
after President, and prosecuted the war with all of the 
ability and vigor he possessed. 

Learning that Taylor's army had been greatly depleted 
to reinforce Scott, Santa Anna moved rapidly forward, with 
an army of 20,000, in the confident hope that he would 
completely crush the American force. 

" Old Rough and Ready," as the men affectionately called 
him, had posted his army of about 6000 in the mountain 
pass of Buena Vista (bwa'nah vees'tah), about nine miles 
from Saltillo. 

On the 22d of February, 1847, Santa Anna sent in a flag 
of truce, and demanded the immediate and unconditional 
surrender of the American army, but his messenger was 
met by Colonel Crittenden of the staff, who replied, with a 
quiet smile: "General Taylor never surrenders!" 

The next morning (February 23d) the Mexicans made a 



20(5 ISCnOOL JlhSTUliY OF THE UNITED t^TATES. 

furious attack on the American position, some of the volun- 
teers were routed, and it looked as if a great disaster would 
befall Taylor's little army. 

But at the crisis of the battle Jefferson Davis moved for- 
ward with his Mississippi Rifles, allowed the fugitives to 
pass through his ranks — calmly ringing out his famous 
order, " Steady, Mississippians ! Steady, Mississippians ! 
Cowards to the rear, but brave men to the front ! ! " — and 
by his skill and the daring of his men, supported by the 
Kentuckians, changed the face of affairs, and won the field. 

Taylor, mounted on his famous charger, " old Whitey," 
was seen everywhere encouraging his men and directing the 
battle. 

Riding up to Captain Braxton Bragg, who was doing 
fearful execution on the enemy by the superb handling of 
his battery of Light Artillery, he said : " A little more of 
the grape, if you please, Captain Bragg, and the day is 
ours." 

The enemy was badly defeated, and retreated in great 
confusion during the night. Their loss was over 2000, 
ours 743, but among the killed were Colonels Hardin, 
McKee, and Yell, and Lieutenant-Colonel Clay, the gifted 
and gallant son of Henry Clay of Kentucky. 

General Scott's Operations General Scott carried 

out his part of the plan by first taking Vera Cruz (March 
29, 1847). On his march to the City of Mexico, he came 
upon Santa Anna at Cerro Gordo. The Mexicans had a 
much more numerous force behind strong intrenchments, 
but were driven out with the loss of many prisoners (April 
i8th). The skill of Captain R. E. Lee, and other Ameri- 
can engineers was shown here by building a road that 
flanked the enemy's position around a mountain by a route 
along which Santa Anna said he " did not believe a goat 
could climb." The loss of the Mexicans here was 1000 



208 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

in killed and wounded, 3000 prisoners, including five gen- 
erals, 5000 stands of arms, and forty-three pieces of artillery. 

Santa Anna himself only escaped on his swift mule, his 
carriage, papers, and cork leg being captured. 

After pressing on to Puebla, Scott had an annoying 
delay while waiting for reinforcements, which ought to 
have reached him some time before. This delay gave 
Santa Anna time to collect another army, and to strongly 
fortify all of the approaches to the City of Mexico. 

On the loth of August, 1847, the American army, now 
increased to about 10,000 men, came in sight of the beauti- 
ful City of Mexico, defended by 30,000 troops under their 
ablest General. 

On the 20th of August five distinct battles were fought, 
and at Coutreras, Churubusco, San Antonio, and two other 
points 32,000 Mexicans were driven from strongly fortified 
positions by 9000 American soldiers, who inflicted on the 
enemy a loss of 7000 killed, wounded and prisoners, besides 
guns and stores. 

The American loss was 139 killed, and 876 wounded. 

Hon. Nicholas P. Trist, who had been appointed by 
President Polk to negotiate terms of peace with Mexico, 
had joined Scott at Puebla, and an armistice was now 
agreed upon, and a treaty of peace seemed about to be con- 
cluded, when General Scott complained of a violation on 
the part of the Mexicans of certain conditions of the armis- 
tice, and Santa Anna answered so insolently that the truce 
was declared at an end, and hostilities resumed. On Sep- 
tember 7th, Molino del Rey was carried by assault, and on 
the 13th the strong fortress of Chapultepec was stormed 
and captured. Seeing that hope was gone, Santa Anna ran 
away in the night, and the City of Mexico surrendered 
September 14, 1847. The first corps to march into the city 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



209 




GENERAL W. SCOTT. 



was a South Carolina reg^imcnt, carrying" the " Palmetto 
flag." General John A. Quitman, of Mississippi, was 
appointed military governor. 

General Scott had gathered 
around him a brilliant galaxy of 
young officers, such as Robert 
Edward Lee, George B. McClel- 
lan, Joseph E. Johnston, G. T. 
Beauregard, Braxton Bragg, U. S. 
Grant, Joseph Hooker, A. E. 
Burnside, J. B. Magruder, T. J. 
Jackson, A. P. Hill, R. S. Ewell, '^ 
D. H. Hill, Sumner, Sedgwick, 
McPherson, Meade, Hood, Har- 
die, Maury, and others, who after- 
wards became distinguished in the 
great War between the States. 

General Kearney's Operations Meanwhile, Gen- 
eral S. W. Kearney entered the province of New Mexico 
and took possession. Captain Fremont, who was engaged 
with a party of engineers in exploring the region of the 
Rocky mountains, united with Commodore Stockton, who 
was cruising off the Pacific coast with an American fleet, 
and the two completed the conquest of California. 

Peace. — The capture of the city of Mexico, however, 
decided the war. A treaty of peace was made February 2, 
1848, by which the Rio Grande became the western boun- 
dary of Texas, and New Mexico and California were ceded 
to the United States. Mexico received for this transfer the 
sum of $15,000,000. 

Besides this, the United States agreed to pay the debts 
due American citizens by Mexico, which amounted to three 
million and a quarter dollars ($3,250,000) — so that for the 
territory acquired we paid $18,250,000. 



210 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Discovery of Gold in California One day in Pebru- 

ary, 1848, two men were at work in a mill-race at Coloma, 
Cal., among the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, 
when one of them picked up a glittering piece of yellow 
metal, which they, at first, supposed to be brass. But there 
was no brass about the mill, and they began to think it 
might be gold. When submitted to tests, it proved to be 
indeed a bit of that precious metal. It weighed not quite 
nine pennyweights, and was worth about $7. 

Thus gold was discovered in California. The discovery 
caused unparalleled excitement throughout the civilized 
world. Thousands of emigrants swarmed aboard the ships 
that made the stormy passage around Cape Horn, or the 
men labored across the Isthmus of Panama, and took ship 
on the other side. Multitudes plodded over the plains and 
mountains, facing the hostility of Indians, the perils of the 
snowy ranges and the danger of starvation. They thronged 
to the Pacific coast from Europe, and Asia, all drawn by the 
wonderful stories of unbounded treasures of gold in Cali- 
fornia. Within a year, the population of San Francisco 
increased from a few hundreds to more than 20,000. The 
people paid enormous prices for the barest necessities of 
life, and suffered all manner of privation. The amount of 
gold received by the United States mint in the following 
twelve years exceeded $500,000,000. Today, however, the 
annual product of gold in California, although large, is not 
so valuable as her wheat crop. 

Admission of Iowa and Wisconsin. — Iowa, the 
twenty-ninth State, was admitted to the Union, Decemiber 
28, 1846. It was first permanently settled at Burlington, 
and organized into a territory in 1838. Wisconsin was ad- 
mitted May 29, 1848. The section was one of those visited 
by the French explorers and traders toward the close of the 



SCHOOL HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES. 211 

seventeenth century. The settlement at Green Bay was 
made in 1745, and it became a separate territory in 1836. 

Presidential Election of 1848 The three Presiden- 
tial candidates, in the fall of 1848, wer« General Lewis Cass, 
of Michigan, the nominee of the Democrats ; ex-President 
Van Buren, of the new Free-Soil party, and General Zach- 
ary Taylor, of the Whigs. The Free-Solil party were the 
supporters of the Wilmot Proviso, a bill which w<is .pre- 
sented in Congress in 1846 by David Wilmot, of Pennsyl- 
vania, aiTd which prohibited slavery in all territory that 
might be secured by treaty with Mexico. The bill was de- 
feated, although it received considerable support. The 
popularity gained by General Taylor in the war with Mex- 
ico carried him triumphantly into the President's chair. 

Questions. — Give biographical sketch of the eleventh President. 
Tell the causes of the war with Mexico. The first conflict. Cap- 
ture of Monterey. Describe the battle of Buena Vista. What of 
General Scott's operations? General Kearney's operations? Upon 
what terms was peace arranged? Tel! the stcwy of the discovery of 
gold in Cahfornia? Tell of the admission of Iowa and Wisconsin. 
Of the presidential election of 1848. 



212 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 




CHAPTER XXIV. 

TAYLOR'S AND FILLMORE'S ADMINISTRATION. 

(1849-1853.) 

Zachary Taylor The 

twelfth President was born 
near Orange Court House, 
Va., September 24, 1784. His 
parents removed to Kentucky 
when he was an infant. He 
received a scant school educa- 
tion, but made an excellent 
soldier. He did fine service in 
the war of 1812 and in the 
Seminole war, but gained his 
greatest distinction in the con- 
test with Mexico. 
His brusque manner, his integrity and courage won him 

the title of " Rough and Ready," and he was personally 

very popular. He died July 9, 1850. 

Millard Fillmore Millard 

Fillmore, the Vice-President, 
succeeded to the Presidency. 
He was born at Summerhill, 
N. Y., January 7, 1800, and 
died March 8, 1874. He 
learned the trade- of fuller, 
taught school and studied law. 
He was a member of the Legis- 
lature for three terms and 
Congressman for four terms. 
At the time of his nomination 
for the Vice-Presidency, he 

was serving as Comptroller of the State of New York. He 




SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 213 

was a careful and wise officer, whose integrity and sound 
judgment gave him a creditable place among the statesmen 
of his time. 

Slavery Agitation. — When California asked to be ad- 
mitted to the Union, the slavery discussion was revived 
with ten-fold bitterness. The quarrel became so fierce that 
the disruption of the Union was threatened. 

A long and bitter contest over the election of Speaker of 
the House during the session of 1849-50 had resulted 
finally in the election of Hon. Howell Cobb, of Georgia. 
The reintroduction at this session of the " Wilmot I'ro- 
viso," which destroyed the provisions of the " Missouri 
Compromise," and prohibited the admission into the Union 
of any m.ore slave States, greatly excited the Southern 
people. 

Senator John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, too feeble to 
deliver it himself, had read by Senator Mason of Virginia 
a clear and able argument, which he had written, solemnly 
warning against the centralizing tendencies of the General 
Government, and its invasion of the rights of the States. 
As Calhoun died on March the 31st, 1850, this was his last 
appeal and warning. 

The great debate on the slavery question was participated 
in by JefTerson Davis of Mississippi, William H. Seward of 
New York, Robert Tombs of Georgia, and other able men, 
and there were some very strong utterances on both sides. 
Then it was that Henry Clay, the " Great Pacificator," 
stepped forward for the last time and poured oil on the 
troubled waters. But it could only be for a time. Ere 
long would come the terrible clash of arms. 

The Omnibus Bill Clay's compromise of 1850 was 

termed the Omnibus Bill. It provided that California 
should be admitted as a Free State ; that the Territories of 
Utah and New Mexico should be formed without any refer- 



214 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

ence to slavery; that Texas should be paid $10,000,000 to 
yield its claim to New Mexico ; that the slave trade should 
be prohibited in the District of Columbia, and that a fugi- 
tive slave law should be enacted, providing for the return 
to their owners of such slaves as escaped into the free 
States, and that Congress should pass no law interfering 
with traffic in slaves between the slave-holding States. 

All the measures of this bill were finally passed in sepa- 
rate bills known as the Compromise Measures of 1850. 
Clay, in advocating these measures, was supported by 
Daniel Webster, who thus ended forever his chance of 
becoming President. 

Admission of California California was admitted 

September 9, 1850. The country was named New Albion 
by Sir Francis Drake, who sailed along the coast in 1579. 
A mission was established by the Spanish at San Diego 
(de a'go) in 1769, and another at San Francisco seven years 
later. The Spanish power was overthrown in 1822. A 
few settlers found their way thither from the States, but its 
first bound into prosperity was given by the discovery of 
gold in 1848. 

Evading the Fugitive Slave Law The enactment 

of a more stringent " Fugitive Slave Law%" by which United 
States officers were required to aid in capturing fugitive 
slaves and returning them to their masters, excited the bit- 
terest opposition of the abolitionists, and w^as practically 
nullified, and rendered inoperative from the beginning. 

In Boston, in Syracuse, New York, and at other places, 
mobs rescued fugitive slaves from officers of the law, and 
" the underground railway," by which slaves enticed from 
their masters were run off to safe harbors at the North, or 
to Canada, was established, and actively operated. Not 
content with this, several of the Northern States passed at 
once, and all of them passed later on, " Personal Liberty 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 215 

bills," which nullified all fugitive slave laws, and effectually 
provided that negroes stolen from their masters should not 
be returned, or, in other words, that property sold to the 
South by Northern States should now be destroyed by the 
action of those same States. It is very obvious that — 
whatever may have been the right or wrong of slavery 
originally, though it is certain that old England and New 
England, whose ships brought the negroes from Africa and 
sold them, were at least as great sinners as those who 
bought them — the Constitution of the United States recog- 
nized the right of property in slaves, and neither Congress 
nor State Legislatures could legally deprive slave owners 
of their property any more than they could rob New Eng- 
landers'of their factories, or the people of the West of their 
flocks and herds. 

Arctic Exploration. — Moses Grinnell, a wealthy mer- 
chant of New York, fitted out in May, 1850, two small ves- 
sels to search for Sir John Franklin, who was sent out by 
Great Britain in 1845 to find the open polar sea. Lieuten- 
ant De Haven, who was in command of the expedition, 
returned in October, 1851, and reported that he discovered 
at the southern entrance to Wellington channel the graves 
of three of Franklin's men, but found no trace of the com- 
mander. May 3Tst, 1853, a second expedition sailed, the 
Government assisting Grinnell, and the vessels being under 
the charge of Dr. Elisha Kent Kane, the surgeon and 
naturalist of the former expedition. The vessels being 
frozen in the ice, Kane set out with his men in open boats, 
and made a voyage of 1300 miles to a Danish settlement in 
Greenland, where they found relief ships which had been 
sent out to look for them. Kane and his party reached 
New York October nth, 1855, but brought no tidings of 
Franklin and his crew. An exploring party which sailed 
from Scotland in 1857 discovered on the most northerly 



216 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

shores of America some relics of the lost ships including a 
written record telHng' of Franklin's death in June, 1847. 
Other Events During This Administration The 

deaths of Clay and Webster in 1852, following those of 
President Taylor and John C. Calhoun, make this period 
notable for the loss of prominent and able leaders. 

In 1851-53, General Lopez made two attempts, with a 
band of " FiHbusters," to capture Cuba, with a view of 
annexing it to the United States, but the expeditions failed, 
and Lopez, Colonel Crittenden, and their companions were 
executed. 

These were years of great prosperity to the country. The 
population had increased from 5,000,000 in 1800 to over 
23,000,000 in 1850, and every branch of industry was flour- 
ishing. The excess of the revenue receipts over the public 
expenditures was nearly $18,000,000, and at the close of 
Fillmore's administration there was a surplus of more than 
$32,000,000 in the treasury. 

Presidential Election of 1852. — The Democrats nom- 
inated Franklin Pierce, of New Flampshire, and William R. 
King, of Alabama. Probably half of the people in the 
United States had never heard of Pierce. Nevertheless, he 
overwhelmingly defeated General Scott, the candidate of 
the Whigs, who received only 42 electoral votes to 254 cast 
for Pierce. 

Questions. — Give a biographical sketch of the twelfth Presi- 
dent. Of the thirteenth President. What is said of the slavery 
agitation? Tell of the Omnibus Bill. Of California. Evasion of 
the Fugitive Slave Law. Arctic exploration. Deaths during this 
administration. Prosperity of the country. Presidential election 
of 1852? 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF TUB VNITED (STATES. 



2i7 



CHAPTER XXV. 




PIERCE'S ADMINISTRATION. (1853-1857.) 

Franklin Pierce. — The 

fourteenth President was born 
at HiUsborough, N. H., No- 
vember 23, 1804, and died 
October 8, 1869. His father 
was Democratic Governor of 
the State in 1827. The son 
was well educated, and gradu- 
ated at Bowdoin College. He 
served in both branches of 
Congress, and, when elected to 
the Senate, was the youngest 
member of that body. He did 
good service in the war with Mexico, and won the rank of 
Brigadier-General. A notable fact, which is true of no 
other administration, was that from the opening to the close 
not a change was made in his cabinet. Another note- 
worthy incident was the presence at his inaugm^ation of the 
venerable George Washington Parke Curtis, the adopted 
son of George Washington, who had been present at the 
inauguration of every President since the formation of 
the Government, vv^ho watched with such intense anxiety the 
growth of sectional bitterness, and whose son-in-law, Rob- 
ert Edward Lee, was to take so prominent a part in the 
great struggle now impending. 

JefTerson Davis was Secretary of War during this admin- 
istration, and one of the ablest and most influential mem- 
bers of the cabinet, as he was, perhaps, the most efficient 
and useful War Secretary the country ever had. 



218 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Repeal of the Missouri Compromise. — The feeling 
on the slavery question intensified every day. The com- 
promise measures of 1850 brought only a temporary lull. 
Fifteen Northern States passed " personal liberty " bills, 
which made it a misdemeanor for any citizen to help return 
a runaway slave to his master, although the highest court in 
the land had declared it his duty to do so. There were 
manv conflicts and much bloodshed from this cause. Sen- 




PATENT OFFICE, WASHINGTON, D. C. 

Building Begun rSjy, Finished 1S42, IVing Added iSjj- 

ator Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois, brought forward in 
Congress his bill organizing the two Territories of Kansas 
and Nebraska, and leaving the people to settle tlie question 
of slavery for themselves. This was termed " squatter sov- 
ereignty." This bill, which was called the " Kansos- 
Nebraska bill,'' after a fierce discussion, became a law (May 
31, 1854). It will be perceived that it repealed the Missouri 
Compromise. 

The Abolitionists and others bitterly opposed this bill, 
because, they said, it was bad faith to repeal the " Missouri 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UXITED STATES. 



219 



Compromise," and this despite the fact that they had 
themselves virtually repealed or suspended " the Missouri 
Compromise " in the " Omnibus " compromise bill of 1850. 
Many of the ablest men of the South opposed the bill, for 
while they favored the repeal of the " Missouri Compro- 
mise " (which they regarded as unconstitutional, and which 




POST OFFICE, WAS IINGTON, D. C. 

Begun iSjQ : Extensions iS^^. 

the Supreme Court of the United States afterwards decided 
to be unconstitutional), they were opposed to the '" Squatter 
Sovereignty ' idea, or' to any legislation which would pre- 
vent a master from carrying" his slaves into any territory of 
the national domain, as freely as any other property. 

Border Warfare. — Neliraska was so far north that 
slavery could obtain no footing ; but Kansas became the 
seat of war between the rival factions. Northern associa- 



220 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

tions sent emigrants thither, furnished with " rifles instead 
of Bibles." Bands crossed from Missouri, and in many 
places the opposing parties terrorized the elections. Two 
separate Legislatures were elected ; the warring continued ; 
the town of Lawrence was sacked and almost destroyed ; 
the Governor appointed resigned in disgust; the skies at 
night were lit up with the glare of burning buildings, and 
the country was desolated. The civil war continued until 
the pro-slavery men gave over the attempt to secure a con- 
stitution, and one prohibiting slavery was ratified in 1859. 
John Brown was a prominent figure in these fights, and led 
in bloody forays large numbers of abolitionists, who were 
sent to Kansas by the " Emigrant Aid Societies " of the 
North, who raised large sums of money for the purpose. 
The South had no such organizations, slaveholders were 
loth to carry their slaves to Kansas, and thus in the end the 
anti-slavery men prevailed, and the " Kansas-Nebraska " 
bill only resulted in stirring up bitter strife without accom- 
plishing anything of advantage to the slave States. 

New Treaty With Mexico The imperfect maps 

used in the treaty with Mexico caused a dispute over the 
boundary. The boundary was readjusted in 1854. The 
" Gadsden Purchase " was effected in 1853, by which a large 
tract of land, now a part of Arizona, was bought for the 
sum of $10,000,000. By the terms of the purchase, our 
government was released from all obligations to defend the 
frontier against the Indians. It is of interest -to remark 
that this " Gadsden Purchase " was the only territory ever 
added to the original domain of the Union that was not 
added under a Southern-born President. 

Treaty With Japan The policy of Japan for cen- 
turies had been to shut out all foreign nations and have in- 
tercourse with none. In March, 1854, Commodore Perry 
negotiated a treaty with that country, which opened her 



SCHOOL HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES. 221 

ports to all peoples and marked an era in the development 
of the interesting empire. 

Foreign Relations Troubles with England over the 

fisheries, and concerning her enlisting American citizens to 
serve in her armies in the Crimean war, were wisely and 
satisfactorily adjusted by this administration. 

America had been deeply interested in the Hungarian 
Revolution, and during Fillmore's administratio'n had given 
a great ovation to Kossuth, the Hungarian Patriot, though 
refusing to enter into " entangling alliances " even to pro- 
mote the freedom of Hungary. 

A Hungarian named Martin Koszta, who had been ac- 
tively engaged in the Revolution of 1848, escaped to Amer- 
ica, and took the formal steps necessary to become a 
naturalized citizen of the United States. In 1853, leaving 
gone to Smyrna on business, he was recognized by Austrian 
detectives, seized while under the protection of the Ameri- 
can consulate, and carried aboard the Austrian brig of war 
Hussar. 

Fortunately the United States war sloop St. Louis, under 
the command of Captain Duncan Nathaniel Ingraham, 
arrived at Smyrna, June 22d, 1853, and learning the facts, 
demanded that Koszta be surrendered to him by 4 o'clock 
p. M. July 2d, and " cleared decks for action " to enforce his 
demands. The result was the turning over of Koszta to 
the French consul, and his final release, and return to the 
United States. 

Advancement of Science There had been a great 

advance in the educational facilities of the country during 
the past few years, schools and colleges had multiplied and 
been greatly improved, and scholars in all departments of 
knowledge were coming to the front. 

But especially had there been great achievements in 
science, and the names of such men as Silliman, Agassiz, 



i^VllOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED ."^TATE.S. 




MATTHEW F. MAURV. 



and others were known in Europe, as well as in this coun- 
try for their valuable contributions to the knowledge of 
geology, chemistry, and natural history. 

But no American scientist 
was ever more widely known 
and honored in Europe than 
MattJtezv F. Maury, who was 
born in \'irginia, January 14th, 
1806, became a midshipman 
in the navy in 1825, and in 
1839 was put in charge of the 
" Depot of charts and instru- 
ments," out of which he cre- 
ated the " National Nautical 
Observatory " at Washington. 
He established the " Hydro - 
graphic Office " at Washing- 
ton, and instituted a system of " log books " by which all 
American vessels could aid him in collecting observations 
on winds and currents in every sea on which they sailed. 

He originated, and was the moving spirit of the " Brussels 
Conference " in 1853, where representatives of the maritime 
nations discussed the laws of navigation, and of meteorol- 
ogy, and adopted plans, suggested by Maury, for tJieir 
promotion. 

He was really the father of tJic Science of Meteorology, and 
has been so recognized by the world. 

His maps and charts of the ocean won for him the 
honorary titles, " Pathfinder of the Ocean," " Geographer 
of the Seas," and it is estimated that they have saved the 
maritime nations from $40,000,000 to $60,000,000 per 
annum. 

In 1848, he published a treatise on navigation, which was 
long used as a text-book in the United States navy. In 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 223 

1855, he published his Physical Geography, which gave him 
wide reputation, and was translated into several European 
languages, and in later years he published a series of School 
Geographies, which are widely used. He received twenty- 
two gold and silver medals, given by Prussia, Austria. Nor- 
way, Sweden, Holland, Belgium, France, the Pope, 
Sardinia, and Bremen ; three copper medals from England, 
Belgium, and Batavia ; four decorations, given by Denmark, 
Portugal, Russia, and Mexico ; two others from Belgium, 
and France ; a pearl and diamond brooch from the Czar of 
Russia, and other gifts from various potentates. 

When the war of 1861 burst upon the country Maury 
was offered high position, and large pay by several foreign 
powers, but he promptly declined these tempting ofifers, and 
cast in his lot with his native Virginia. For this " crime " 
he has been ignored by the authorities at Washington, his 
name is not mentioned at the observatory he founded, a 
history of the " Brussels Conference " was written, and the 
name of its master-spirit left out, and in the beautiful new 
Congressional Library the name of Maury does not appear 
either among the scientists, or the naval oiBcers of America. 

But despite these, petty sectional jealousies, the world 
continues to recognize Matthew Fontaine Maury as 
among the great scientists of his generation, and one of the 
greatest benefactors of navigators, and of the world, an 
honor to the land that gave him birth, and to whose service 
his life was devoted. 

A proposition has originated in Boston to erect a monu- 
ment to his memory, and the country must yet do justice 
to this great scientist and high-toned Christian gentleman, 
who never found any conflict between God's Science and 
God's old book — the Bible. 

New Parties There had heen organized the "Know 

Nothing," or " American " party, whose fundamental prin- 



224 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

ciple was opposition to the elevation to office of foreigners 
or Roman Catholics. This party had secret lodges, pass- 
words, and grips, and developed strength enough to carry 
nine State elections in 1855. 

The " Republican " party, or, as it was generally called 
in the South, the " Black Republican " party, was com- 
posed of all of those opposed to the Kansas-Nebraska bill, 
or to the further extension of slavery in the territories, and 
drew from the Whig party, the Free Soil party, and even 
the Northern Democratic party. It was confined to the 
Northern States, but, as we shall see, grew so rapidly as to 
be able in 1S60, by the division of the other parties, to con- 
trol the country. 

Presidential Election of 1856. — The Whig party 
united with the American, or Know Nothing party 
(though many of them at the North joined the Republi- 
cans), which nominated for President, Millard Fillmore ; 
the Free Soil, or Repul)lican party, nominated John C. Fre- 
mont ; the Democrats nominated James Buchanan, of Penn- 
sylvania, for President, and John C. Breckenridge, of 
Kentucky, for Vice-President. The Democratic candidates 
were elected, receiving 174 electoral votes, to 114 for Fre- 
mont, and eight for Fillmore. 

Questions. — Give a biographical sketch of the fourteenth Presi- 
dent. State the facts concerning the Missouri Compromise. What 
is said of border warfare? What new treaty was made with 
Mexico? What treaty was made with Japan? W'hat about the 
Koszta affair? Advancement of science? What of Matthew F. 
Maury? New parties? The presidential election? 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 225 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

BUCHANAN'S ADMINISTRATION. (1857-1861.) 

James Buchanan The 

fifteenth President of the 
United States was born of 
Irish parentage at Cove Gap, 
Pa., April 13, 1791, and died 
June I, 1868. He graduated 
at Dickinson College in 1809, 
was admitted to the bar in 
181 2, and two years later 
elected to the State Legisla- 
ture. He was twice a member 
of the House of Representa- 
tives and of the Senate. He 
served as Secretary of State under President Polk. Previ- 
ous to that, President Jackson appointed him minister to 
Russia, and in 1853 he was our minister to England. He 
was the only President that was a bachelor. 

The Dred Scott Decision Dred Scott was a slave, 

whose master, a Surgeon in the United States army, lived 
in Missouri. He afterwards removed to Illinois and then 
to Minnesota, taking Dred Scott with him. In Minnesota, 
Scott married a slave woman belonging to his master, and 
the couple had two children. Scott and his wife were re- 
moved to St. Louis and sold, whereupon he brought suit 
for his freedom. On appeal, the suit reached the Supreme 
Court of the United States, which rendered its decision in 
December, 1857. This was in effect that negroes were not 
citizens of the United States, and could not become such by 
any constitutional process ; they could not sue nor be sued, 
and consequently the Supreme Court had no jurisdiction in 




226 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

the case. A slave was simply personal property, that could 
be taken from State to State, the same as a horse or furni- 
ture,, without his master's losing ownership in him. 

This decision declared not only the Missouri Compromise, 
but Clay's Compromise of 1850, unconstitutional, null and 
void. It was delivered by Chief Justice Taney and con- 
curred in by six of his associates, while two dissented. 
The decision, so manifestly just, and so entirely in accord 
with the fundamental principles of the Constitution, was 
received with great satisfaction by the South, but created 
wide and bitter dissatisfaction at the North, especially 
among the Abolitionists and their sympathizers. These 
denounced the Supreme Court, and proclaimed the Consti- 
tution of the United States " a league with death and a 
covenant with hell." 

The "Mormon War." — Mormons in Utah Territory 
had long given the government much trouble, not only by 
their shameless practice of polygamy, which had excited the 
detestation of the civilized world, and their other strange 
religious views and practices, but by their open defiance of 
the laws of the United States, and of the ofificers sent to 
execute those laws. The troubles culminated in February, 
1856, when a Mormon mob broke into the room of the 
United States District Court, and, with brandished weapons, 
compelled Judge Dunmore to adjourn his court sine die. 

Soon after this, all United States officers were compelled 
to leave the Territory, and the Mormons contiliued to defy 
Federal laws and authority. Finding this to be the state of 
affairs, President Buchanan sent to Utah a force of about 
1700 United States regulars, commanded by Brevet-Briga- 
dier-General Albert Sidney Johnston, who overcame great 
obstacles on the march and reached Salt Lake City, the 
Mormon capital, in February, 1858. General Johnston, 
with the far-reaching wisdom which characterized him, 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 227 

advised the government to make no concessions to the Mor- 
mons, and insisted that " they should be made to submit 
unconditionally to the constitutional and legal demands of 
the government." He predicted that "an adjustment of 
existing dififerences on any other basis would be nugatory." 
But, unfortunately, other counsels prevailed, the Mormons 
were granted amnesty upon making fair promises, which 
they kept only so long as the army remained, and Utah 
continued a source of trouble for years. 

The Atlantic Cable The first telegraph wire across 

the Atlantic was completed August 5, 1858. The feasibility 
of such a scheme had long been discussed, but the prob- 
lem seemed far from solution, until Lieutenant Mathew 
Fontaine Maury, of Virginia, then Superintendent of the 
National Observatory at Washington, advanced the theory 
of the " Deep Sea Plateau," on which the cable could quietly 
rest. Lieutenant John M. Brooke, of Virginia, Maury's 
assistant at the Observatory, invented the " deep sea sound- 
ing " apparatus, and, by its use. Lieutenant Berryman, of 
Virginia, made experiments, which fully verified Maury's 
theory. 

Cyrus W. Field, of New York, a wealthy merchant, de- 
serves great credit for the energy, skill, liberality, and per- 
severance with which he raised the necessary capital, and 
pushed the enterprise to a finally successful issue ; but any 
history of the Atlantic Cable without mention of the names 
of Maury, Brooke and Berryman is as incomplete as it is 
unjust. At a banquet in New York, Cyrus W. Field said : 
" Maury furnished the brains, England furnished the 
money, and I did the work." 

On the evening of the day on which the cable was com- 
pleted, the directors of the company in London sent a con- 
gratulatory message to the directors in this country, and 
Queen Victoria telegraphed to President Buchanan an ex- 



228 SCHOOL nil^TOlir OF THE UNITED STATES. 

pression of her happiness over the success of the enterprise. 
There was wide joy over the result, but disappointment soon 
followed, as the " insulation " became faulty, and it was 
more and more difficult to send messages, until, on the 4th 
of September, it was found impossible to send a single 
word. Several attempts were made to repair the break, but 
complete success was not attained until 1866, since which 
time other ocean cables have been laid, until now we have 
telegraphic communication around the globe. 

Several Events of This Administration The San 

Juan boundary dispute with England was settled by General 
Scott in the summer of 1859, by an agreement with the 
British Governor of the Island, the main question being 
at last referred to the Emperor of Germany for arbitration, 
and in October, 1872, he finally decided in favor of the 
United States. 

The Liucohi-Douglas discussion in Illinois in 1858, during 
the canvass which resulted in the return of Douglas to the 
United States Senate, would have excited little interest out- 
side of the State, but for the fact that Abraham Lincoln, 
with that shrewdness which characterized him, forced " the 
Little Giant " (as Douglas was called) to make admissions 
in reference to the " Kansas-Nebraska " bill, and the Dred 
Scott decision which utterly ruined all prospects of the 
nomination of Douglas for the Presidency by Southern 
Democrats, and at the same time brought Lincoln into a 
prominence which secured him the nomination of the 
Republican party, and resulted in his election. 

Minnesota in 1858, Oregon in 1859, and Kansas January 
29th, 1861 (after a number of Southern Senators had with- 
drawn), were admitted into the Union, and all of them as 
free States. 

John Brow^n's Raid The most startling event of 

Buchanan's administration occurred in the autumn of 1859. 



SCHOOL HI8T0BY OF THE UNITED ^STATES. 229 

John Brown and his sons had taken an active part in Kan- 
sas against slavery. He had so bitter a hatred of the insti- 
tution that he came to regard himself as the instrument of 
heaven to destroy it. He fixed upon Harper's Ferry as the 
spot to begin his fanatical crusade for freedom. His plan 
was to invade Virginia with a small military force and incite 
the slaves to insurrection. 

He collected a band of twenty men in October, and held 
them ready for action on the Maryland shore. They 
crossed the railway bridge over the Potomac, late on Sun- 
day night, October i6, seized the Federal armory at Har- 
per's Ferry, stopped the railway trains, made several citizens 
prisoners, captured such slaves as they could find, and held 
possession of the town for twenty-four hours. Pickets 
were thrown out, and all persons venturing abroad were 
arrested. A negro who refused to join them was shot. 
Telegraphic communication was cut, and arms sent to the 
slaves that were expected to rise. 

The citizens soon comprehended what was going on, and 
were roused to action. They gathered in rapidly increasing 
numbers, and in the morning attacked the armory. The 
invaders kept their assailants at bay for awhile, but it soon 
became evident that the wild scheme of Brown was doomed. 
Several of his men made desperate efforts to escape. One 
leaped into the river and swam across, but was shot when he 
reached the other side. Brown retreated to the little 
engine-house in the armory, where he stayed with his 
wounded and prisoners, fighting off the enraged citizens as 
best he could, until Tuesday morning, when Colonel Robert 
E. Lee arrived from Washington with a force of marines. 
The position of Brown Was hopeless ; but he refused to sur- 
render. His two sons were killed, and he was wounded 
several times. Colonel Lee caused the doors of the engine- 



230 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

house to be battered down when Brown and the survivors 
were overpowered. 

Brown was tried by the authorities of Virginia, and 
hanged on the 2d of December ; his companions on the 
1 6th. This raid would have been looked upon as only the 
effort of a mad fanatic, who had met deserved punishment, 
but for the fact that it was so widely approved at the North 
as to seem to the South but the precursor of many other 
and more dangerous attempts in the same direction. 

The Abolitionists not only openly declared their approval 
of John Brown's course, but held meetings, made fiery 
speeches, and passed strong resolutions of indorsement. 
Bells were tolled, resolutions in honor of " the martyr " 
were passed, and the people of the South were given plainly 
to understand that if they continued to exercise their con- 
stitutional rights and hold the slaves their fathers had 
bought from New England slavers, or from Northern slave- 
holders, they were in future to be subject to arson, rapine 
and murder, with the full approval of their Northern breth- 
ren. 

The romance of " Uncle Tom's Cabin," written by Mrs. 
Harriet Beecher Stowe, in which she " drew on her imagi- 
nation for her facts," and most shamefully misrepresented 
and slandered the people of the South, had been so widely 
read, and her false tales of cruelty to the slaves so generally 
believed that a large part of the people of the North re- 
garded John Brown as a hero-martyr in the cause of right- 
eousness. 

The Presidential Election of i860. — The Presiden- 
tial election approached amid tumultuous excitement. The 
Republican party nominated Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, 
for President, and Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, for V'ce- 
President. The Democratic party met in Charleston, S. C. 
23d of April, i860, but were unable to agree on a platform, 



SCHOOL a I STORY OP THE UNITED STATES. 231 

one wing insisting upon a clean-cut statement that neitlier 
Congress nor a Territorial Legislature had any right to in- 
terfere with the introduction of slavery into the Territories, 
or to impair the right of property in slaves carried there ; 
while the Douglas wing insisted on the " Squatter Sover- 
eignty " doctrine of leaving the people of the Territory to 
decide the question of slavery for themselves. 

The convention split on these questions, and two conven- 
tions were afterwards held in Baltimore and in Richmond 
in June ; the one nominated Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois, 
for President, and Herschel V. Johnson, of Georgia, for 
Vice-President, and the other, after adjourning to Balti- 
more, John C. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, for President, 
and Joseph Lane, of Oregon, for Vice-President. The 
" American " party nominated for President, John Bell, of 
Tennessee, and for Vice-President, Edward Everett, of 
Massachusetts. 

By a purely sectional vote, only sixteen out of thirty-three 
States voting for him, and not one south of " Mason and 
Dixon's line," Abraham Lincoln was declared elected, hav- 
ing a majority of the electoral votes, although out of a 
popular vote of 4,662,169, he received only 1,857,610, while 
the combined popular vote of the other candidates was 
2,804,559. 

The Effect in the South The result of the election 

created the wildest excitement throughout the South. 
Taken in connection with events that had gone before, the 
leaders and the people of the South saw in this triumph of 
sectionalism the most serious menace to their institutions 
and their interests ; and, while there were dififerences of 
opinion as to just what was best to be done, all were agreed 
that a great crisis was upon them, and, if necessary, that 
they must fall back on the doctrine of their fathers — the 
sovereigntv of the States and their constitutional right to 



232 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

secede from the Union, which now threatened to rob them 
of their rights and institute against them a system of oppres- 
sion which must result in their ruin. 

South Carohna led the way, and her convention, assem- 
bled in Charleston, passed her ordinance of Secession, De- 
cember 20, i860, declaring that " The union heretofore 
existing between this State and the other States of North 
America is dissolved." Other States followed South Caro- 
lina, and passed ordinances of Secession : Mississippi on 
January 9, 1861 ; Florida, January 10; Alabama, January 
II ; Georgia, January 19; Louisiana, January 26, and Texas, 
February 23. 

Efforts at Compromise — Various efforts by leading 
men were made to compromise the differences between the 
sections. The message of President Buchanan to Con- 
gress, December 3d, i860, took strong ground against the 
" Personal Liberty bills " of the Northern States, the slav- 
ery agitation, and the " underground railway," and while 
he disapproved of Secession, he took strong ground against 
the claim of the General Government to coerce a State. He 
earnestly begged for concessions, compromise, and concil- 
iation, that the LTnion might be preserved. 

Senator John J. Crittenden, of Kentucky, pressed a com- 
promise, the chief features of which were that the line of 
36° 30' should be the boundary between free and slave terri- 
tory, and that fugitive slaves who could not be recovered 
should be paid for out of the United States treasury. Ac- 
tion on his proposition was deferred until after the secession 
of ten States, and was then defeated. 

Committees were appointed from both the Senate and the 
House to report compromise resolutions, but they failed to 
accomplish anything, because the Republicans, flushed with 
victory and confident of their power, would make no con- 
cessions whatever. 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 233 

Virginia, who had done so much to win the Revohition- 
ary struggle and to form the government ; whose voice had 
hitherto been so influential in the councils of the country, 
and who had clung to the Union with such devotion, called 
a " Peace Conference," which assembled in Washington on 
the 4th of February, 1861. Many of the Northern States, 
and Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Ten- 
nessee, Kentucky and Missouri, sent delegates, and ex- 
President John Tyler, of Virginia, was made president of 
the Conference. It adopted terms of settlement, which 
were not acceptable to the Virginia or North Carolina dele- 
gates, and which were promptly rejected by Congress, now 
under control of the Republicans, since the representatives 
of the seceded States had withdrawn as their States passed 
ordinances of secession. 

The Seceding States Resuming Their Sovereign 
Powers and Seizing Forts and Arsenals As each se- 
ceding State withdrew from tlie Union, she resumed her 
powers as a sovereign and independent State, and proceeded 
to exercise these powers so far as she was able to do so. 
They claimed the right to take possession of such forts, ar- 
senals and public buildings of the United States as were 
within their own borders, the sites of which had been ceded 
to the General Government, to be used for the protection of 
the States and the general good, and had been built from 
the common treasury, to whicli each State had contributed 
its share. But they avowed their entire willingness and full 
purpose to settle for this property of the General Govern- 
ment upon terms of equity and justice, to be afterwards 
agreed upon. 

South Carolina sent commissioners to Washington to 
treat for the peaceable possession of the forts in Charleston 
harbor, and, while this was not agreed to by Buchanan's 
administration, it was promised, on the one hand, that " the 



234 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

military status of tiie forts should not be disturbed," and, 
on the other, " that there should be no attack upon the forts 
pending negotiations." South Carolina scrupulously kept 
her pledge of honor, and made no hostile demonstrations 
against the forts. lAit on the night of December 26, i860, 
Major Robert Anderson, who commanded the garrison at 
Fort Moultrie, on Sullivan's Island, secretly transferred his 
garrison, provisions, and ammunition to Fort Sumter, after 
having spiked the guns and dismantled the armament of 
Moultrie as far as possible. 

Sumter being much the stronger fort, nearer to Charles- 
ton and more inaccessible to assault, while completely com- 
manding the harbor, the Carolinians and Secessionists were 
naturally very indignant at this palpable " change of the 
military status." 

Secretary of War John B. Floyd demanded of the Presi- 
dent authority to order Major Anderson back to Fort Moul- 
trie, and, this being refused, he tendered his resignation on 
the 29th of December, saying, " I can no longer hold my 
office under my convictions of patriotism, nor with honor, 
subjected as I am to the violation of solemn pledges and 
plighted faith." His resignation was promptly accepted. 

The military forces of South Carolina now took posses- 
sion of Moultrie, the Arsenal in Charleston and other 
strongholds around the harbor, and began preparations to 
reduce Sumter if it should not be peaceably surrendered to 
them. 

The Star of the West The President, after a good 

deal of vacillation, determined to reinforce and provision 
Sumter, and, on the 5th of January. 1861, the steamer Star 
of the West sailed from New York, with 250 soldiers and an 
ample supply of stores, provisions and munitions of war. 
The attempt cf the vessel to reach Sumter on the night of 
January 8 was resisted by the Carolina batteries, and she 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



235 



was compelled to put back to sea, reaching New York on 
the 1 2th. 

Jacob Thompson, Secretary of the Interior, at once re- 
signed, on the ground that this attempt to reinforce Sumter 
was in violation of the understanding reached at the cabinet 
meeting, December 31. This expedition of the Star of the 
West was clearly another act of war on the part of the Gen- 
eral Government. 

Formation of the Confederacy On the very day on 

which the " Peace Conference " assembled in Washington, 
February 4, 1861, delegates from the seceded States met in 
Montgomery, Ala., and organized the Government of the 
" Confederate States of Aiueriea," by the adoption of a pro- 
visional constitution, to con- 
tinue in force one year, and the 
election of Jefferson Davis, of 
Mississippi, as President, and 
Alexander H. Stephens, of 
Georgia, as Vice-President. 
They also adopted a " Perma- 
nent Constitution," to be sub- 
mitted for ratification to the 
States composing the Confed- 
eracy. 

This constitution was mod- 
eled on that of the United 
States, and, in some important 
points of difiference, has won the approval of some of the 
ablest statesmen, even among the bitterest enemies of the 
Confederacy. 

A comparison of the two shows the points of difiference, 
and we note here only the following : The Confederate Con- 
stitution recognized, as the old does not. Almighty God, and 
invoked Kis favor and guidance. It guarded carefully the 




ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS. 



236 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

doctrine of the " sovereignty of each State." It expressly 
forbade the " slave trade," or the importation of slaves from 
any foreign country, other than the slave-holding States and 
Territories of the United States. It forbade Congress from 
granting "bounties" to corporations or "trusts" of any 
kind. It provided a revenue tariff. It fixed the term of 
President and Vice-President at six years, but provided that 
the President should not be eligible for re-election. The 
first Confederate flag was unfurled ]\Iarch 4, 1861. 

President Jefferson Davis The son of Captain Sam- 
uel Davis, of Georgia, who distinguished himself in the 
War of the Revolution, Jefferson Davis, was born June the 
3d, 1808, in Christian, now Todd, county, Kentucky. He 
was reared in Mississippi, and educated at Transylvania 
College, Kentucky, and the Military Academy at West 
Point, where he entered September, 1824, and graduated in 
1828. 

As a young officer in the United States army, he served 
on the frontier against the Indians with distinguished gal- 
lantry and skill until 1835, when he resigned from the army, 
married a daughter of Colonel Zachary Taylor, and settled 
as a cotton planter in Warren county, Mississippi. 

In 1843, '^6 began his political career. In February, 1845, 
he was married to Miss Varina Howell, of Natchez, and in 
December of the same year he took his seat as a member of 
the House of Representatives at Washington. He at once 
made his mark as a debater and leader of the Ho'use ; but, in 
June, 1846, he resigned his seat in Congress to accept the 
colonelcy of a regiment of Mississippi volunteers, organized 
for service in the Mexican War. 

We have seen something of his brilliant career in Mex- 
ico, his service in the United States Senate, and his able 
administration of the War Department under President 
Pierce. 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 237 

At the close of his term as Secretary of War, he re- 
entered the Senate, where he remahied until the secession 
of his State, when he' promptly resigned, to follow her for- 




Fiunt Uaiiarirs Ujutcd iltulcs llinUinj 

JEFFERSON DAVIS. 



tunes. During Mr. Davis's service in the United States 
Senate there were giants on the floor, for in those davs men 
were sent to the Senate because of their intellectual powers, 



238 SCHOOL HISTOBY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

the purity of their characters, and their capacity to serve 
their States and their country. 

Yet Jefferson Davis was in native abihty, scholarly attain- 
ments, wide information, and real power as orator, and de- 
bater the peer of any of them. His " farewell to the Sen- 
ate " was a piece of matchless oratory, and he closed his 
brilliant career in the public service of the United States 
without one stain on his record, or one blot on his char- 
acter.- 

He was made Major-General and Commander-in-Chief of 
the forces of Mississippi, and was anxious to serve in the 
field, if there should be war ; but when unanimously elected 
President of the Confederacy, he did not feel at liberty to 
decline this service. 

To give the details of his history as President of the 
Confederacy were to write the " Rise and Fall of the Con- 
federate States of America." 

Suffice it to say that in patriotic devotion to duty, untir- 
ing energy, undaunted courage, and manly bearing, he has 
had few equals, and no superior in all history. 

Captured near Irvinville, Ga., while endeavoring to make 
his way to the Trans-Mississippi Department, he was sent 
to Fortress Monroe, confined in a casemate, and — to the 
eternal shame of General Nelson A. Miles, who ordered 
it — put in irons. 

Refused the trial for which he begged — because the 
ablest lawyers at the North, Chief Justice Clrase at their 
head, knew that he had committed no " Treason," and 
could not be convicted under the Constitution and laws of 
the United States — he was finally released on bail, and the 
indictment against him dismissed. 

After his release, he spent a year in Canada, and a year in 
Europe, engaged in business in Memphis for several years, 
and settled at Beauvoir, on the Gulf coast. Here he wrote 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 239 

his great book, " Rise and Fall of the Confederate Govern- 
ment," and other works of great value, and spent the even- 
ing of his days in the bosom of his family. 

Taken sick at his plantation, he returned to New Orleans, 
where, after a 'brief illness, surrounded by his family and 
friends, he died December 6, 1889, aged eighty-one years 
and six months. There was universal grief throughout the 
South ; meetings were held, addresses were made, resolu- 
tions were passed, the newspapers were filled with eulogies, 
and all felt that a great leader had fallen. Governors and 
other prominent representatives from all of the former Con- 
federate States went to New Orleans to attend the funeral. 

The casket containing the remains was temporarily de- 
posited in the vault of the Army of Northern Virginia, in 
Metaire Cemetery, New Orleans, and in May, 1893, was 
borne to Richmond by a loving escort, v/hile hundreds and 
thousands of sympathizing people assembled at every sta- 
tion to do him honor. The body was laid for a little while 
in the State capitols of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, 
and Mrginia, where hundreds of thousands of people passed 
by in solemn procession, and from the old capitol of the 
Confederacy it was borne in an immense procession to its 
final resting place in beautiful " Hollywood," where sleep 
so many Confederate heroes. 

A noble monument is to be erected in Richmond to his 
memory ; but his fittest monument is in the hearts of his 
people. 

The Close of Buchanan's Administration. — Texas 
adopted her ordinance of Secession February 23, 1861, and 
was admitted into the Confederacy, March 2. 

Meantime, the most strenuous efforts to preserve the 
peace seemed utter failures. Mr. Lincoln refused to give 
assurance that he would not coerce the seceding States, and 
Mr. Buchanan, though opposed to coercion, pleased neither 



240 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

party, and went out of office with the enmity of both. On 
both sides there were vigorous preparations for the great 
struggle which all saw was impending, and the world waited 
for the official utterance of the new President. 

Questions. — Give a biographical sketch of the fifteenth Presi- 
dent. Give a history of the Dred Scott decision. Sketch the Mor- 
mon war. What is the history of the Atlantic cable? Tell of several 
events of interest of this administration — San Juan boundary. 
Lincoln-Douglas discussion. States admitted. Who was John 
Brown? What did he do at Harper's Ferry? Relate what fol- 
lowed. What is said of the presidential election of i860? What 
effect did this election produce in the South? What steps were 
taken by South Carolina? Other States? What of efforts at 
compromise? The "Peace Conference?" Seizing of forts and 
arsenals by the seceding states? Sketch the formation of the 
Southern Confederacy. Sketch the life and character of Jefferson 
Davis. How did Buchanan's administration close? 



CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY OF EVENTS. 

A. D. Page. 

1786. Shay's rebellion in Massachusetts 130 

1787. Constitution of the United States adopted, September 17.. 131 
1789. President Washington inaugurated, April 30 133 

1791. Vermont admitted to the Union, March 4 140 

1792. Kentucky admitted to the Union, June i 140 

1794. The Indians defeated by General Wayne, August 20 136 

1794. Whiskey rebellion in Pennsylvania 135 

1796. Tennessee admitted to the Union, June i 141 

1799. Washington died at Mount Vernon, December 14 145 

1803. Ohio admitted to the Union, November 29. . . ." 148 

1803. Louisiana purchased from France, April 30 149 

1804. Hamilton killed by Burr in a duel, July 11 150 

1807. The Chesapeake captured by the Leopard, June 22 153 

1807. The first steamboat launched on the Hudson, August i. . . 151 

1809. President Madison inaugurated, March 4 155 

1809. Embargo Act repealed, March 4 153 

1811. Action between the President and Little Belt, May 16.... 155 

181 1. Battle of Tippecanoe, November 7 156 



SCHOOL ULSTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 241 

A. D. Page. 

8i2. War declared with England, June 19 157 

812. Louisiana admitted to the Union, April 8 167 

812. Detroit surrendered, August 16 157 

812. The Constitution captured the Guerrierc, August 19 158 

812. Battle of Queenstown, October 13 157 

813. The Chesapeake captured by the Shannon, June i 158 

813. Battle of the Thames, October 5 162 

814. Battle of Chippewa, July 5 162 

814. Battle of Lundy's Lane, July 25 162 

814. Washington captured by the British and partly burned, 

August 24 162 

814. Battle of Plattsburg and Lake Champlain, September 11. 162 

815. Jackson's victory at New Orleans, January 8 165 

815. Capture of the Cyane and Levant. February 20 166 

816. Indiana admitted, December 11 168 

817. Mississippi admitted to the Union, December 10 176 

818. Illinois admitted to the Union, December 3 176 

819. The first steamer that crossed the Atlantic sailed from 

Savannah, May 24 172 

819. Alabama admitted to the Union, December 14 176 

820. The Missouri Compromise passed, March 3 174 

820. Maine admitted to the Union, March 15 174 

821. Missouri admitted to the Union, August 10 175 

824. Visit of Lafayette 176 

825. Opening of Erie Canal, October 8 177 

826. First railway in the United States completed 180 

829. The first locomotive ran on an American railway, Aug. 9, 179 

830. Mormon sect founded by Joseph Smith 191 

832. Black Hawk War 187 

835. Texas declared its independence 198 

835. Dade's massacre by the Seminoles, December 28 187 

836. Fall of the Alamo, March 6 199 

836. Battle of San Jacinto, April 21 200 

836. Arkansas admitted, June 15 188 

837. Michigan admitted to the Union, January 26 188 

838. Lieutenant Wilkes's exploring expedition sent out 192 

842. Dorr's rebellion in Rhode Island 195 

844. The first magnetic telegraph completed 196 

845. Florida admitted to the Union, March 3 201 

845. President Polk inaugurated, March 4 202 



242 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

A. D. Page. 

845. Ex-President Jackson died, June 8 189 

845. Texas admitted to the Union, December 29 201 

846. Congress declared war with Mexico, May 11 203 

846. Mormon migration to Utah 192 

846. Monterey captured, September 24 204 

846. Iowa admitted to the Union, December 28 210 

847. Battle of Buena Vista, February 2^ 205 

847. Vera Cruz captured, March 29 206 

847. Battle of Cerro Gordo, Aprtl 18 206 

847. City of Mexico surrendered, September 14 208 

848. Treaty of peace signed with Mexico, February 2 209 

848. Gold discovered in California, February 210 

848. Ex-President J. Q. Adams died, February 23 178 

848. Wisconsin admitted to the Union, May 29 210 

849. President Taylor inaugurated, March 5 212 

850. Grinnell's first arctic expedition sailed. May 215 

850. President Taylor died. July 9 212 

850. California admitted to the Union, September 9 214 

853- President Pierce inaugurated, March 4 217 

853. Dr. Kane sailed with his arctic exploring expedition, 

May 31 215 

854. Commodore Perry's treaty with Japan, March 220 

854. The Missouri Compromise repealed. May 31 218 

855. Dr. Kane and his arctic explorers arrived in New York, 

October 11 215 

857. President Buchanan inaugurated, March 4 225 

857. Dred Scott decision rendered, December term of Su- 

preme Court 225 

858. Minnesota admitted to the Union, May 11 228 

858. First Atlantic telegraph operated, August 5 227 

859. Oregon admitted to the Union, February 14. 228 

859. John Brown's raid, October 16-19 228 

860. South Carolina seceded, December 20 232 

861. Steamer Star of the JVest fired upon 234 

861. Kansas admitted to the Union, January 29 228 

861. Southern Confederacy formed at Montgomery, Feb. 4. . 235 

861. The first Confederate flag unfurled, March 4 236 

861. Jefferson Davis elected President of the Southern Con- 
federacy 235 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 243 



PART Y. 

The War Between the States. Lincoln's 
Administration. 

CHAPTER XXVII. 
THE FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR, 1861. 

Abraham Lincoln — -The sixteenth President of the 
United States was one of the most remarkable men in his- 
tory. He was born in Hardin, now Larue, county, Ken- 
tucky, February 12, 1809. His parents, who were 
extremely poor, removed to the backwoods of Indiana 
when he was seven years old. He grew up with scant 
opportunities for education. In 1828, he was a common 
laborer on a flatboat, which floated to New Orleans. On 
his return, his father removed to Illinois, where the son was 
employed in splitting rails. He was afterward engaged as 
flatboatman, clerk, surveyor, postmaster and river pilot, 
studying law meanwhile as he had opportunity. He was a 
captain in the Black Hawk war, but was not called on to 
meet the enemy. He was a member of the Illinois Legis- 
lature in 1834, and was admitted to the bar in 1837. He 
located in Springfield, and met with great success. He was 
elected to Congress in 1846, and opposed the repeal of the 
Missouri Compromise. Although defeated by Stephen A. 
Douglas, in a contest for the Senate, the ability he showed 
in the canvass caused his nomination for the Presidency in 
i860. 

Lincoln was tall, homely and muscular, careless in dress, 



244 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



with a strong natural sense of humor, but inclined to melan- 
choly. He was unpopular with the extreme men of his 
party, and was so repugnant to the Abolitionists that they 



nominated a 
him in 1864. As 
however, he 
dence of the 
pie of the North, 
the one great 
was the restora- 
His assassina- 
ning of the try- 
struction was 
fortune 
South 
as to 
North, 
not 
greatly 
t e r e d 
p e ople 
"the 
els " — 
t h e 




ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



candidate against 

events progressed, 

gained the confi- 

conservative peo- 

who believed that 

ambition of his life 

tion of the Union. 

tion in the begin- 

ing days of recon- 

regarded as a mis- 

to the 

as well 

t h e 

for it 

only 

e m bit- 

t h e 

against 

Reb- 

despite 

fact 



that the fanatical assassin had no connection whatever with 
the Confederacy, and no countenance or encouragement 
from any of its leaders — but, moreover, it was believed 
that Mr. Lincoln was more disposed to deal leniently with 
the South. 

Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln. — It being re- 
ported that an attempt would be made to prevent the inaug- 
uration of the new President, though there was never any 
proof of such purpose. General Scott assembled a strong 
military force in Washington, and, for the first time in the 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 245 

history of the country, the Chief Magistrate was protected 
by bayonets from the fancied vvratli of the people. Mr. 
Lincoln himself, after starting to Washington, amid the 
plaudits of his partisans, made characteristic speeches to 
crowds who gathered at the depots to see him, but after- 
wards changed his schedule, and came into the capital 
secretly. He was inaugurated on March 4, 1861. 

The whole country had waited with breathless anxiety for 
the inaugural address of the President, for he held in his 
keeping the issue of peace or war. If he should say, as 
General Scott advised, " Wayward sisters, depart in peace," 
then there would be no war ; the border States would be 
held in the Union, and there might be a peaceful solution 
of the whole question. 

But so far from taking that view, he declared that the 
Union was unbroken ; that he should execute the laws in all 
the States, and that he would employ all the power of the 
government to " hold, occupy, and possess the property and 
places belonging to the government," and " to collect the 
duties, and imposts." 

Yet even after this plain declaration of the purpose of the 
President to coerce sovereign States, who had simply exer- 
cised their inalienable right of choosing their own gov- 
ernment and their own af^liations, the border States waited ; 
the Confederate government sent their commissioners to 
treat for peace and for the equitable settlement of all prop- 
erty rights and other points at issue ; and " Union men " all 
through the South, and many good men at the North, 
" hoped against hope," and fervently prayed that better 
counsels might prevail, and that the calamities of war might 
be averted. 

Bad Faith of the Federal Government. — General 
Scott, after holding a covmcil of military men, advised the 
evacuation of Fort Sumter, as a " military necessity," being 



246 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

satisfied that it could not be reinforced or provisioned with- 
out a great expenditure of treasure and blood. The Con- 
federate Government had sent Messrs. Forsyth, Crawford 
and Roman to Washington, with instructions and full pow- 
ers to treat with the Federal Government, and fairly settle 
all questions at issue. Secretary Wm. H. Seward, of the 
State Department, while declining to recognize these com- 
missioners officially, still, in an informal interview which he 
granted them, held out to them hopes of a peaceable settle- 
ment. Judge John A. Campbell, of the Supreme Court, in 
the presence of Associate-Justice Nelson, had an interview 
with Mr. Seward (at Mr. Seward's instance), in which the 
Secretary assured him, and authorized him to assure the 
commissioners, that " Fort Sumter will be evacuated in the 
next five days." When the time had expired, so far from 
evacuating the fort. Major Anderson was busily engaged in 
strengthening its defenses. Judge Campbell had another 
interview with Mr. Seward, who assured him that the fort 
would be evacuated, and that " the government would not 
undertake to supply Fort Sumter without giving notice to 
Governor Pickens." 

Meantime, it was published in the papers that large naval 
and military preparations were being made by the govern- 
ment, both at New York and Norfolk, with the evident pur- 
pose of reinforcing Fort Sumter, and Judge Campbell wrote 
to Mr. Seward of these facts, and of the anxieties of the 
people of the South, and reminded him of his peaceable as- 
surances. Mr. Seward sent the laconic answer : " Faith as 
to Sumter fully kept ; zvait and sec " — although he knew 
that the fleet of several ships, carrying 285 guns and 2400 
troops, had already sailed for Charleston harbor. 

The First Gun On the 6th of April, Mr. Lincoln, 

when the Federal fleet was setting sail for Charleston, sent 
a messenger, who, at a late hour on the 8th, the eve of the 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 247 

day on which the fleet would have arrived at Charleston but 
for its detention by a storm, notified Governor Pickens that 
his policy had been changed, and that an effort would be 
made to provision the fort and to reinforce it, if resistance 
was made by the Confederates. 




BOMBARDMENT OF FORT SUMTER. 



The delay caused by the storm gave General Beauregard, 
who was in command of the Confederate forces at Charles- 
ton, time to consult, by telegraph, the Confederate authori- 
ties. Under instructions from them, he demanded, first, 
the evacuation of the fort, and then a pledge that the guns 
of Sumter should not be used against him in any conflict he 
might have with the approaching fleet. Both of these de- 



248 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

mands being refused, fire was opened on Sumter at twenty- 
five minutes past four on the morning of Friday, April 12, 
1861. 

Major Anderson and his small garrison made a gallant 
resistance, but by twelve o'clock of April the 13th, the con- 
dition of the fort had become desperate, and as the fleet 
waited outside the harbor, and did not venture to face the 
preparations Beauregard had made for its reception, there 
was nothing left the brave Anderson and his command but 
to surrender on the honorable terms offered, namely, that 
he should be permitted to salute his flag with fifty gims, 
bring out all the personal baggage of the garrison, and have 
free transportation on a steamer to New York. Strange to 
say, not a man was seriously hurt on either side during the 
bombardment, but one of the garrison was killed by an 
explosion of a caisson during the firing of the salute. The 
fleet put back to New York. 

A great deal has been said about the Confederates " firing 
the first gun of the war," but the point made is absurd. 
Hallam, in his " Constitutional History of England," has 
aptly said : " The aggressor in a war (that is he who begins 
it) is not the first ivho uses force, but the first who renders 
foree necessary.'" Judged by this standard, the Confederates 
were clearly not the aggressors. 

The policy of the Confederacy was peace ; the war was 
begun by the Federal Government, and that government 
alone is responsible for all the horrors which 'ensued. All 
the rhetoric to the effect that " the South fired the first gun 
which began the war " cannot alter the facts or relieve the 
Federal Government of the solenm responsibility of begin- 
ning a war of subjugation against sovereign States. 

Tne Effect North and South This was the opening 

act of one of the most stupendous wars in history. From 
the moment fire was opened from the Cumming's Point bat- 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 249 

tery, the telegraph wires North and South throbbed with 
the news. The streets were crowded, and men fought for 
places in front of the bulletin-boards. When at last came 
the news of the surrender, the whole country was stirred as 
never before. In both sections the war spirit overleaped all 
bounds. In Charleston, the bells were rung, cannon fired 
and the people embraced each other in their excitement. 
The same feeling prevailed throughout the South. The 
people clamored to be enrolled as defenders of their homes 
and hearthstones. 

The Northern people may have been slower to catch the 
excitement, but when the wave swept over them, the feeling 
was equally tumultuous. Men who expressed their sym- 
pathy for the South were mobbed. Newspapers that had 
been friendly to that section were forced to hang out the 
Stars and Stripes, imder threat of lynching. There was 
rioting in many places, and the rage against the South 
passed all bounds. 

When, therefore. President Lincoln issued a call for 
75,000 volunteers, April 15, the response was overwhelm- 
ing. As in the South, men wrangled for places in the 
ranks. The call was issued three days after the fall of Fort 
Sumter, and in half a week, 100,000 men responded. 

The proclamation of Mr. Lincoln, calling for 75,000 men 
to subjugate the seceded States, and calling on the border 
States to furnisli their quota, was regarded throughout the 
South as a declaration of war — as a usurpation by the 
President of the power that belonged alone to Congress. 
The proclamation was met with a stern defiance. Two days 
afterwards, April 17, the \'irginia Convention passed its 
ordinance of Secession. 

Arkansas seceded on the 6th of May, North Carolina on 
the 20th, and Tennessee on June 8 ; and each promptly 
joined the Southern Confederacy. Maryland, Missouri and 



250 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Kentucky would probably have joined the Confederacy had 
they not been " pinned in the Union by Federal bayonets." 
Missouri and Kentucky had representatives in the Confed- 
erate Congress, and furnished, as did Maryland, many brave 
soldiers to light for Southern independence. President 
Davis called on the States to furnish volunteers for the 
common defense, and summoned the Confederate Congress 
to convene in Montgomery on the 29th of April. 

The Causes of the War The war had now begun. 

,Who was responsible ? Was it a " Slaveholders' Rebel- 
lion ; " a revolt of disappointed Southern leaders against 
"the best government the world ever saw?" Had the 
Southern States a constitutional right to secede, and were 
they justifiable in doing so? Had the United States Gov- 
ernment the right to coerce sovereign States, and was Mr. 
Lincoln justifiable in inaugurating a war of subjugation 
against the South ? These are questions into which we can- 
not go fully here. We give, however, a brief summary of 
facts. 

When the colonies wrested their independence from Great 
Britain she treated with each State as a sovereign republic, 
and not with the combined States, or tJic Nation of the 
United States. When the Government of "' The United 
States of America " was first formed under the Constitu- 
tion, it was by the secession of States from the old Confed- 
eration, and when the new Constitution was adopted, the 
right of withdrawal for what they might deem sufificient 
cause was distinctly reserved by both New York and Vir- 
ginia, and afterwards by Rhode Island, and was thus se- 
cured to all the States who entered, or might thereafter 
enter, the Union. 

North Carolina and Rhode Island refused at first to join 
the new Union, and remained out as sovereign States, inde- 
pendent Republics, until the rights of each State were made 



SCHOOL UhSTOIiY OF THE UNITED ^STATES. 251 

clearer by amendments to the Constitution, and the right of 
a State to secede put beyond reasonable question. 

This right, which was reaffirmed and emphasized by the 
famous Virginia and Kentucky resolutions of 1798-99, was 
not seriously questioned in any quarter, except under the 
exigencies of partisan politics. Through a period of many 
years, New England had an unbroken record in favor of the 
right of Secession. In 1804, the Legislature of Massachu- 
setts passed an act to the effect that the purchase and 
annexation of Louisiana by the General Government was a 
sufficient cause for the dissolution of the Union, and that it 
absolved the old States from their allegiance to the Union, 
and the public men and the people of New England gener- 
ally endorsed that view. But the first active movement in 
the direction of Secession occurred in New England during 
the war of 181 2 between the United States and Great 
Britain, which was from the first very unpopular in the New 
England States, although the war was really undertaken in 
the interest of their commerce. 

The war was denounced as unholy, and without any p'lea 
of justification. Even in the pulpits disunion was boldly 
advocated as the only remedy for the monstrous wrong. 
When Commodore Decatur was chased into New London 
by a British squadron, he made repeated attempts to steal 
out in the darkness of night, but in every instance the enemy 
was warned by the burning of blue fights on shore. Thus 
that brave ofBcer, to his great exasperation, was held pow- 
erless by enemies at home. 

When news arrived of the declaration of war, the flags 
were half-masted in Boston harbor and at other points. 
New England decided that her militia should not be per- 
mitted to go otuside the State limits to help carry on the 
war. Not content with negative measures, the six New 
England States sent delegates to Hartford, December 15, 



252 i^CHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

1814, where they sat with closed doors. They determined 
that the National Government must make a radical change 
of policy, or New England would withdraw from the Union. 
Having decided on this momentous step, they adjourned to 
the following June for more decisive action. Before the 
day for reassembling arrived, the war ended. But for this, 
the United States would have had at that time to face the 
question of subjugating the New England States, or of 
allowing their undoubted right to secede from the Union 
and set up for themselves. 

In celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the inauguration 
of Washington, April 30, 1839, ex-President John Quincy 
Adams made a speech, which was received with wide ap- 
proval in New England, in which speech, after deploring 
the growth of sectional feeling, and arguing that if the time 
came when the States should lose fraternal feeling for each 
other, it vould be better for them to separate, and far better 
for them to " part in friendship from each other than to be 
held together by constraint," he says : " Then will be the 
time for reverting to the precedents which occurred at the 
formation and adoption of the Constitution, to form again a 
more perfect Union, by dissolving that which could not 
bind, and to leave the separated parts to be reunited by the 
law of political gravitation to the centre." 

Three years later, January 24, 1842, Mr. Adams presented 
a petition to Congress from citizens of Haverhill, Mass., 
praying that Congress would " immediately adopt measures 
peaceably to dissolve the Union of these States," and as- 
signing reasons for such action. Resolutions censuring 
Mr. Adams for presenting this petition were introduced by 
Mr. Marshall, of Kentucky, but, after two weeks' debate on 
them, during which Mr. Adams ably defended the petition 
and his relation to it, the resolutions were laid on the table, 
the House seeming to approve the position of Mr. Adams. 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 253 

In 1844, and again on the 22(1 of February, 1845, the 
Legislature of Massachusetts passed resolutions avowing 
the right of Secession, and threatening to secede, if Texas 
was admitted into the Union. Indeed, there seems at that 
date to have been no serious question North, South, East or 
West of the right of a State to secede. 

This view of the question was iterated and reiterated by 
leading statesmen and newspapers throughout the North. 
Even after the election of Mr. Lincoln, and up to the actual 
breaking out of the war, Horace Greeley, one of the ablest 
and most influential Republicans in the country, advocated 
again and again in the New York Tribune the right of the 
Southern States to peaceably withdraw from the Union, and 
pointed out the folly of the claim that the General Govern- 
ment had any right to coerce them. 

But had they sufficient cause to exercise tJiis iiuilioioble 
right? Did their grievances justify this cxtreuu' measure? 
The answer to this question re(}uircs only a brief summary 
of the facts. Slavery had been introduced into the colonies 
by the cupidity of Old and New England, and against the 
frequent and earnest protest of the Southern colonies, espe- 
cially Mrginia and Georgia. It had been most distinctly 
recognized by the Federal Constitution, which provided for 
the return of fugitive slaves. The privileges of the slave 
trade had been extended twenty years under the Constitu- 
tion of 1787 by the votes of New England, whose ships were 
so largely engaged in it, against the earnest protest and 
votes of Virginia, Delaware and Maryland. It had been 
finally abolished by the action of Virginia, Georgia and 
other Southern States, which passed laws against the fur- 
ther introduction into their limits of slaves brought from 
Africa. The Northern States held slaves as long as they 
found them profitable, and then, instead of setting them at 
liberty, they sold them to the South, put the money into 



254 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

their pockets, and afterwards began a bitter, persistent and 
relentless crusade against slavery and slaveholders. 

Through long years of excited and bitter controversy 
over this question, the South submitted to compromise after 
compromise, in which she yielded almost everything, only 
to find fresh demands from the other side. Finally, she 
saw the Constitution and the laws of the land set at defiance 
by the " Personal Liberty " bills of many of the Northern 
States, the decisions of the Supreme Court defied, and its 
judges, who in that day wore stainless ermine, abused and 
villified, and the Constitution of the United States de- 
nounced as a " League with death and a covenant with 
heh." 

The tariff, the fishing, and other bounties, the distribu- 
tion of the proceeds of the public lands, the establishment of 
four well-equipped dockyards at the North to one at the 
South, the expenditure of immense sums of money for 
lighting, buoying, improving and fortifying the Northern 
coast, and very much smaller sums for similar purposes 
along the Southern coast, although there were four miles of 
sea front in the South for one at the North, and the very 
patent fact that the trend of legislation, since the North and 
Northwest had gotten the control of Congress, had been to 
discriminate against the South and in favor of the North — 
all these things had brought the ablest men of the Soutliern 
States to conclude that the South would be better ofT out of 
the Union. 

We conclude, therefore, that tJtc seceding States not only 
had a perfect right to ivithdraw from the Union, but that they 
Jiad amply snffieient cause for doing so, and that the zvar mack 
upon them by the North was utterly nnjustinable, oppressive, 
and cruel, and that the South could honorably have pursued no 
other course than to resist force with force and make her heroic 
struggle for constitutional freedom. 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 255 

Preparation for the War. — We know not how better 
to state the comparative preparation of each section for the 
war than to quote from an article of Benjamin J. Wilhams, 
Esq., of Massachusetts, pubhshed in the Lowell Sun some 
years after the war: " The odds in numbers and means in 
favor of the North were tremendous. Her white popula- 
tion of nearly 20,000,000 was fourfold that of the strictly 
Confederate territory; and from the border Southern States, 
and communities of Missouri, Kentucky, East Tennessee, 
West Virginia, Maryland and Delaware, she got more men 
and supplies for her armies than the Confederacy got for 
hers. Kentucky alone furnished as many men to the 
Northern armies as Massachusetts. In available money 
and credit the advantage of the North was vastly greater 
than in population, and it included all the chief centres of 
banking and commerce. Then she had possession of the 
old government, its capital, its army and navy, and mostly 
its arsenals, dock-yards and workshops, with all their sup- 
plies of arms and ordnance, and military and naval stores of 
every kind and the means of manufacturing the same. 
Again, the North, as a manufacturing and mechanical peo- 
ple, abounded in factories and workshops of every kind, 
immediately available for the manufacture of every species 
of supplies for the army and navy ; while the South, as an 
agricultural people, were almost entirely wanting in such 
resources. Finally, in the possession of the recognized 
government, the North was in full and free comnumication 
with all nations, and had full opportunity, which she im- 
proved to the utmost, to import and bring in from abroad 
not only supplies of all kinds, but men as well for her 
service ; while the South, without a recognized government, 
and with her ports speedily blockaded by the Federal navy, 
was almost entirely shut up within herself and her own 
limited resources." 



256 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The reports of the Adjutamt-Generars office show that 
there were actually mustered into the service of the United 
States during the war 2,859,132 men, while the most accu- 
rate statistics of General Cooper, the Confederate Adjutant- 
General, show that only 600,000 men were mustered into 
the Confederate armies during the war. 

Retaliatory Measures. ■ — President Lincoln, April 19, 
issued a proclamation, declaring a blockade of the Confed- 
erate ports, and suspending the right of Habeas Corpus. 
President Davis retaliated by calling for privateers to prey 
on the commerce of the North. 

Fight in Baltimore. — Maryland deeply sympathized 
with the Confederates, and there is little doubt that she 
would have seceded but for the arrest of members of her 
Legislature, the double-dealing of her Governor Hicks, and 
the overrunning of the State by Federal troops. Baltimore 
had given warning that troops for the subjugation of the 
South should not pass through her streets, and when, on 
the 19th of April, the Sixth Massachusetts and the Twenty- 
sixth Pennsylvania regiments marched through the city, 
crowds of indignant citizens hooted and stoned them, and 
when they fired on the people, there followed a brisk run- 
ning fight, which resulted in the killing of nine citizens and 
four soldiers and the wounding of thirty soldiers. This 
may be called the first blood of the war. 

Preliminary Movements. — Governor Letcher, of Vir- 
ginia, had rejected every proposition to capture Federal 
forts, arsenals, etc., within the State before the ordinance of 
secession had been passed, claiming that as long as Virginia 
remained in the Union she should commit no hostile act 
against the General Government. But as soon as the State 
seceded, expeditions were sent to capture the navy-yard at 
Portsmouth and the arsenal at Harper's Ferry. United 
States troops attempted to destroy both of these places, be- 



UVUOOL HINTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 257 

fore evacuating them, and did succeed in destroying a vast 
amount of machinery, stores and material, but the Confed- 
erates saved machinery, small arms, guns, anmiunition, 
stores and material, which were invaluable to them in the 
prosecution of the war. 

Because of its strength, no attempt was made on Fortress 
Monroe, located at the entrance of Hampton Roads into 
Chesapeake 'bay, and this fort remained in the possession of 
the Federals throughout the war. There were small affairs 
at Camp Jackson, St. Louis, May lo; at Fairfax Court 
House, Va., June i, and at Phillipi, Va., June 3, which re- 
sulted favorably for the Federals. 

War in Virginia As soon as the Old Dominion 

passed her ordinance of Secession, she began to make vig- 
orous preparations to defend her territory from threatened 
invasion. Colonel R. E. Lee, of the old United States 
army, was made commander-in-chief of all her forces, and 
went vigorously to work to organize, equip, and drill the 
raw recruits, who rushed to arms at the first call of their 
mother State. 

Virginia, having now joined the Confederacy, and it be- 
ing evident that her soil would be the great battlefield, the 
capital of the Confederate States was removed from Mont- 
gomery, Ala., to Richmond, and President Davis, after re- 
ceiving a grand ovation from his people along the route, 
reached Richmond May 29, 1861. 

United States troops, under pretext of defending Wash- 
ington, crossed the Potomac on the 24th of May, and occu- 
pied Alexandria and also Arlington, the residence of 
General Lee. Colonel Elmer F. Ellsworth, of the New 
York Zouaves, tore down from the Marshall House, the 
principal hotel of Alexandria, the Confederate fiag and 
hoisted in its stead a United States flag, and was immedi- 
ately shot dead by the proprietor, James W. Jackson, who, 



J5S 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



in turn, was killed by the soldiers. The lines in front of 
Alexandria and Arlington were heavily reinforced ; General 
Patterson gathered a large force to threaten Harper's Ferry 
and the lower valley of Virginia ; General Geo. B. McClel- 
lan advanced with a heavy force into Western Virginia; and 
Norfolk and the peninsula were threatened from Fortress 




CONFEDERATE CAPITOL, RICHMOND. 



Monroe. To meet these movements, General Huger was 
put in command of the Confederate forces at Norfolk ; Gen- 
eral Magruder on the peninsula ; General Beauregard at 
Manassas Junction ; General Joseph E. Johnston at Har- 
per's Ferry, and General Garnett in West Virginia. 

General Geo. B. McClellan made a vigorous campaign in 
West Virginia, and defeated the Confederates at Rich 
Mountain, July ii, and at Carrick's Ford, July 13. Gen- 



SCHOOL niSTORY OP THE UNITED fiTATEfi. 259 

eral AlcClcllan's old teacher at West Point, General Garnett, 
was killed at the latter place, and his troops scattered in a 
disastrous retreat. 

At Big Bethel, near Fortress Monroe, on June lo. Gen- 
eral John Bankhead Magruder defeated the advance of the 
Federal forces. These affairs were greatly exaggerated at 
the time, but were only the mutterings of the coming storm. 
" On to Richmond " was the cry now raised by the Northern 
press and people, it being insisted that Richmond could and 
should be captured before the meeting of the " Rebel Con- 
gress " there on the 29th of July. 

General Patterson threatened to cross the Potomac 
above, and General Johnston promptly evacuated Harper's 
Ferry, June 16, having sent to the rear the machinery of the 
arsenal and all the material and stores of every description 
that could be transported. He sent Colonel A. P. Hill with 
three regiments to Romney to meet a reported advance of 
Federals on that place, and Hill sent a detachment to New 
Creek, which captured two pieces of artillery and a stand of 
colors, drove off the guard and destroyed the important 
bridge over the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad at that point. 

Johnston manoeuvred in front of Patterson, and on July 2 
Colonel Thomas J. Jackson had a sharp fight with the 
Federal advance at Falling Waters. \\'ith only 380 men 
and one piece of artillery, he held his position from 9 o'clock 
until noon, and, with a loss of only two killed, and ten 
wounded, inflicted on the Federals considerable loss in 
killed and wounded, and captured forty-five prisoners. 
General Johnston inmiediately advanced to support Jack- 
son, and remained in line of battle at Darkesville for several 
days. General Patterson declining the ofifered battle. 

Meantime, the Federal army, gathered in front of Wash- 
ington, had been put under the immediate command of 
General Irvin McDowell, who, on the i6th of July, with a 




^ -''^^'^' )l GENERALS. (^^J ^ 

^ ^' J^. iii ''' — "— 1 Ml 




Picture of General Robert E. Lee is on page 385. 



SCHOOL BL^TORY OF THE UNITED HTATES!. 261 

splendidly equipped army of 40,000 nien and sixty pieces of 
artillery, moved on General Beauregard's position along the 
line of Bull Run, in front of Manassas Junction. On the 
i8th of July, there was a severe fight at Blackburn's Ford, 
in which McDowell's advance was repulsed with loss. That 
afternoon, Johnston received at Winchester the famous 
message from Beauregard : " If you are going to help me, 
now is the time." 

Johnston easily eluded Patterson, and took up his line of 
march for Manassas, but the raw volunteers were not then 
used to marching, and the straggling was fearful. Jack- 
son's brigade, which had the advance, made about thirty 
miles the first day, and the rest of the army about twenty- 
five miles. 

At Piedmont Station, the Infantry were embarked on the 
cars of the Manassas Gap Railroad, but the transportation 
was so badly managed that only a part of the troops 
reached Manassas in time for the great battle. 

General Johnston, who was the ranking ofificer, adopted 
Beauregard's plans, and assigned to him the duty of person- 
ally commanding on the field, while he himself took com- 
mand of the whole of the united forces. 

The Confederates designed to take the initiative by ad- 
vancing by their right flank on the Federals at Centreville, 
but meantime General McDowell had conceived the able 
and bold plan of crossing Bull Run, above the Confederate 
line, and moving down on their left flank. The orders from 
Confederate headquarters to the troops who were to lead 
their advance on Centreville miscarried, and the movement 
was not begun. 

Meantime, McDowell was executing his plans, and in the 
early mornmg of Sunday, July the 21st, he moved down and 
began the battle. At first, the chances were greatly against 
the Confederates, who were forced to fight on new ground 



262 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



and under very dififerent conditions from what their leaders 
intended, and against fearful odds (at least ten to one when 
the battle began, four to one at noon, and two to one at 
4 p. M.). But reinforcements continued to arrive from 
other parts of the line, until at the close of the battle the 
respective numbers of all arms actually engaged were : 
Federals, 19,925; Confederates, 17,664. Though the Con- 
federates made a gallant and stubborn fight, the Federal 
troops had carried everything before them, and were mass- 
ing for an attack on the plateau on which stood the famous 
Henry house, when General Bee rode up to General T. J. 
Jackson, who, with his brigade, was calmly awaiting the 
attack, and exclaimed : " General, they are beating us 
back ! " Jackson (his eyes glittering beneath the rim of the 
old cadet cap he w'ore) calmly replied : " Sir, zvc zvill not he 
beaten hack. We zvill give them the bayonet!" Bee, about 
to yield up his noble life, galloped to his own shattered 
troops, and rallied them with 
the call that became historic, 
and rechristened Jackson and 
his brigade: "Look! There 
stands Jackson like a stone 
zvall. Rally on the Vir- 
ginians!" i^^^^^f^^-%'. ^ H^ 

Jackson repulsed the at- 
tack, and charged with the 
bayonet ; other Confederate 
troops moved gallantly for- 
ward, and, under the inspir- 
ing presence of Johnston and Beauregard, the plateau was 
sw^pt of the enemy, and the tide of battle turned. 

The Federals, however, were reinforced, and were prepar- 
ing for another attack, when General Kirby Smith, with 
three regiments of Elzey's brigade, which had just arrived 




CONFEDERATE BATTLE FLAG. 



SCHOOL nii^TOnr of the VXITED states. 263 

at Manassas Junction from Piedmont (and were the only 
troops from Johnston's army of the Shenandoah that came 
that day), and Colonel Jubal A. Early, who had come up 
from the right of Beauregard's line with his briagde, moved 
around on the enemy's flank ; J. E. B. Stuart made a gallant 
charge with his cavalry ; Beauregard moved forward his 
whole line, and the Federals were driven back in a panic. 

Arms, accoutrements, knapsacks — everything that could 
impede flight, were thrown away ; horses were cut from ar- 
tillery, ambulances, and wagons, and the " Grand Army " 
was converted into an uncontrollable mob, whose " On to 
Richmond " had been changed into " Off for Washington." 
So certain were they of victory, that large numbers of Con- 
gressmen, fine ladies, and civilians generally had driven out 
from Washington to witness the " defeat of the Rebels," 
and had brought all kinds of eatables, baskets of cham- 
pagne, and other liquors, fireworks, etc., to celebrate " the 
glories of the Union and the downfall of treason." These 
added a ludicrously pathetic coloring to the indescribable 
scene, as the vast horde rushed back on all the roads lead- 
ing to Washington. 

President Davis, who had left Richmond as soon as pos- 
sible after delivering his message to the Confederate Con- 
gress, galloped on the field just as the great victory had 
been won, and his presence created great enthusiasm among 
the troops. He favored a prompt and vigorous pursuit, 
and at one time issued a positive order to that effect. But 
the real extent of the Federal panic was not then known, 
and the Confederates were very deficient in transportation 
and supplies of all kinds. 

It seems almost certain now that, if the Confederate army 
could have rushed pell-mell on the heels of the fugitives, 
Washington would have been captured at that time. As it 
was, the Confederates captured twenty-eight pieces of ar- 



264 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

tillery, 5000 muskets, almost 500,000 cartridges, a garrison 
flag, ten regimental colors, sixty-four artillery horses with 
their harness, twenty-six wagons, camp equipage, clothing 
and immense quantities of military stores of every descrip- 
tion. The loss of the Confederates in the battle was 1897, 
while that of the Federals was about 4000. 

The effect of this battle was greatly to depress the North 
and elate the South. But the Northern people were led by 
it to see something of the magnitude of what they had un- 
dertaken, and were inspired to renewed determination and 
efifort. The Federal Congress voted $500,000,000 and 
500,000 men to carry on the war, and the Northern people 
saw that the idea of conquering the South in " ninety days," 
as Mr. Seward promised, was absurd. The Confederates, 
on the other hand, were confident that the war was practi- 
cally over, that England and France would soon recognize 
the Confederacy, and that there would be no more fighting. 
The consequence was an apathy on the part of the army, 
and the people, which proved very disastrous in its conse- 
quences. 

General George B. McClellan, whose successes in West- 
ern Virginia had won him great reputation, and who was 
an able and accomplisfied soldier, was now Commander-in- 
chief of the Federal armies, General Scott having retired. 
McClellan took the innncdiate command of the Army of the 
Potomac. By his fine talents for organization, and his rigid 
discipline, he greatly increased the numbers and efficiency 
of the army. 

The Confederate army, in the meantime, was but little in- 
creased in numbers, and suffered great losses from disease. 
In the latter part of August and early part of September, 
Colonel J. E. B. Stuart, with a small force of Cavalry and 
Infantry and a battery of Artillery, had several brilliant 
affairs with Federals at Masons and Munson's hills, and 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 265 

at Lewinsville, and the Confederate lines were advanced 
until the dome of the capitol at Washington could be dis- 
tinctly seen from their outposts. 

On October 21, the Federals, who had crossed the river 
at Ball's BlufT, near Leesburg, Va., were attacked by an in- 
ferior force of Confederates under General N. G. Evans, 
and defeated with great slaughter, losing at least 1000 men, 
while the Confederate loss was small. On December the 
2 1st, Stuart, with an Infantry and Cavalry force, suffered a 
severe defeat at the hands of Federal Infantry, at Draines- 
ville, which closed the fighting for the year along the lines 
of Northern Virginia. 

In Western Virginia, General R. E. Lee had taken com- 
mand soon after the battle of Manassas, and was opposed 
by General W. S. Rosecrans, one of the ablest of the Fed- 
eral Generals. The terrible condition of the roads after 
continuous rains of over six weeks, the natural difficulties 
of the country, the fact that many of the people of that 
region were unfriendly to the Confederate cause, and the 
want of co-operation between Generals FI. A. Wise and 
John B. Floyd, two of General Lee's chief subordinates, 
br-ought it to pass that the best-laid plans of the great 
soldier were frustrated, and but httle was accomplished. 

The latter part of October, General Lee returned to Rich- 
mond as the " military adviser of the President," and the 
campaign in West Virginia was virtually closed for the year. 
On the 3d of October, however, the Federal general Rey- 
nolds made an attack on General Flenry R. Jackson, com- 
manding the Confederates at Cheat Mountain Pass, and 
received a severe repulse. December 13, General Fxlward 
Johnson repulsed, with heavy loss, an attack of the Federals 
under General Milroy, upon his position on Alleghany 
mountain. 




GEH. R.H ANDER50N/ r)> 



Picture of " Stonewall " Jackson is on page 326. 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 267 

Operations Along the Coast The overwhelming 

superiority of the Federal Navy enabled them to capture 
the forts on Hatteras Inlet, N. C, August 28 and 29, and 
those on Port Royal harbor, S. C, November 7, and Tybee 
Island, below Savannah, and to hold possession of Fortress 
Monroe, \'a., and Fort Pickens, near Pensacola, Fla. The 
Confederate loss at Platteras was about 770. 

The Blockade. — One of the most effective means of 
crippling the South was the blockade. Compared with the 
North, the section was poor. To secure funds, medicines 
and supplies it was necessary to ship cotton to foreign ports 
and sell it. To prevent this, the North built an immense 
number of fleet steamers, which blockaded the whole coast. 
This was so extended, however, that it was impossible to 
close up every avenue against the blockade-runners. 
Painted generally of a dull leaden color, to avoid detection, 
the swift Confederate steamers stole out from many ports in 
the darkness and hastened to Nassau and other points, 
where they were safe from disturbance. Many boats not 
belonging to the Confederates entered from the outside. 
They ran great risks, and numbers were captured, in which 
case vessels and cargoes were lost. The chances of gain 
and adventure, however, rendered blockade-running one of 
the most stirring features of the war. 

Confederate Privateers. — In retaliation for this sum- 
mary closing of Southern ports, the Confederate Govern- 
ment issued letters of marque to privateers. The first 
Confederate privateer to get to sea was the Saz'aimah. The 
letters authorized the privateers to make war upon the m.er- 
chant ships of the Northern States. The Savannah was 
followed by others, some of which were built abroad, and 
inflicted millions of damage on Northern commerce. 

At first, the Northern people and the government de- 
clared these privateers to be nothing but pirates, and 



268 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

avowed their purpose of treating them as such. Accord- 
ingly, when the Savannah, after running the blockade from 
Charleston, on the 2d of June, and capturing one merchant 
brig, laden with sugar from Cuba, was, in turn, captured by 
the United States brig Perry, the officers and crew were 
sent to Philadelphia, where they were tried and convicted 
of piracy. But their execution was prevented by the 
promptness with which President Davis wrote to President 
Lincoln, that if these men were executed, he would retaliate 
by the execution of a like number of Federal prisoners then 
in the hands of the Confederates, and they were afterwards 
treated and exchanged like other prisoners of war. 

The War in Missouri Governor Jackson, of Mis- 
souri, and other leaders tried to hold the State in a position 
of neutrality, but Captain Lyon, the Federal commander at 
St. Louis made prompt war on the State militia, broke up 
Camp Jackson, seized the arsenal at St. Louis, and, now 
made Brigadier-General, defeated Colonel Marmaduke at 
Booneville. 

Generals Price and McCulloch defeated the Federals 
under General Sigel at Carthage, on July 5, and on August 
10, being attacked by General Lyon at Wilson's Creek (Oak 
Hill), they gave the Federals a crushing defeat, General 
Lyon being killed while bravely leading his men. On the 
20th of September, General Price captured Lexington, with 
3000 prisoners and a large amount of stores of every kind. 
On the 7th of November, General (Bishop) Leonidas Polk 
defeated General U. S. Grant, with a severe loss, at Bel- 
mont, this being Grant's first battle of the war. 

A Missouri convention had refused to declare for Seces- 
sion, but now that the State was captured by Lyon the 
legislature, in extra session called by Governor Jackson, 
meeting at Neosho, passed an ordinance of Secession, upon 
which the people never had an opportunity of voting, as 







Many who became lieutenant-generals were major-generals at this time. Their pictures 
are given in other groups. 



270 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Federal bayonets ruled the State, the Confederate army 
being pushed back by General H. W. Halleck, with greatly 
superior forces, to the border of Arkansas. 

Operations in Kentucky. — Kentucky, also, tried to be 
neutral, but it soon appeared that this was impossible. 
The movements of Federal forces to capture Kentucky 
compelled General Leonidas Polk to occupy Columbus, and 
Federal troops were poured in. so rapidly that they overran 
the Northern part of the State, and the Confederate Gen- 
eral, Albert Sidney Johnston, established his line of defense 
with his principal points at Columbus, Ky., Forts Henry, 
Ky., and Donelson, Tenn., and Bowling Green, and Cum- 
berland Gap, Ky. 

The opposing parties were active and bitter, but there 
can be little doubt that a free vote of the people would have 
carried the State into the Confederacy ; a provisional gov- 
ernment, headed by Hon. John C. Breckinridge, and others 
of the ablest leaders of -the State, took that action, and 
Kentucky, also, was represented in the Confederate Con- 
gress, while many of her ablest, bravest, and best citizens 
were in the Confederate armies. 

Presidential Election On the 6th of November, an 

election was held throughout the Confederacy for President 
and Vice-President for a term of six years, beginning the 
22d of February, 1862, under the " Permanent Constitu- 
tion." There was no opposition to the able and pure states- 
men who had been elected by the " Provisional Congress," 
and Jefferson Davis and Alexander H. Stephens were elected 
by the unanimous vote of the electoral colleges President 
and Vice-President respectively. 

The Trent Affair. — James M. Mason, of Virginia, and 
John Slidell, of Louisiana, both of whom had been mem- 
bers of the United States Senate, were appointed commis- 
sioners of the Confederacy to the courts of London and 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 271 

Paris. Making their way, with their secretaries, irom 
Charleston to Havana, they took passage for England on 
the British mail steamer Troit on the 7th of November. 
The following day, this steamer was stopped by Captain 
Charles Wilkes, commanding the Federal steamer San 
Jacinto, who took off Messrs. Mason and Slidell, and held 
them as prisoners of war. This was enforcing the " right 
of search," the very cause of our war with England in 1812. 

The incident created intense excitement at the North, in 
the South, and in England. The House of Representatives 
at Washington passed a vote of thanks to Captain Wilkes, 
the press and people at the North made a lion of him, and 
there was at first no hint of disapproval of his act from 
President or Cabinet. 

There was the strongest indignation in England, and the 
government promptly demanded the return of the comm.is- 
sioners and an apology for their capture, and began prepa- 
rations to enforce its demand. France sided with England, 
and it looked as if the hour of the triumph of the Confeder- 
acy had come. 

But the Federal Government promptly yielded to the per- 
emptory demand of England, Mr. Seward, Secretary of 
State, wrote a response more adroit than candid, and the 
Confederate commissioners, who had been confined in Fort 
W^arren, Boston harbor, were turned over to the British 
authorities and permitted to go to their destination. 

Results of the First Year of the War The Con- 
federates had very decidedly the advantage in the battles 
fought in 1 86 1. At Big Bethel, Va., June 10; at Carthage, 
Mo., July 5 ; at Bull Run, July 18; at Manassas (called Bull 
Run by the Federals), July 21 ; at Wilson's Creek (near 
Springfield), Mo., August 10; at Scarry Creek, Va., July 
17; at Carnifex Ferry, Va., September 10; at Lexington, 
Mo., September 20 ; at Cheat Mountain Pass, Va., October 



272 SCHOOL UISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

3; at Ball's Bluff, Va., October 21 ; at Belmont, Mo., No- 
vember 7, and at Alleghany Mountain, December 13, they 
had gained victories which were not at all dimmed by suc- 
cesses gained by the Federals at Philippi, Va., June 3 ; Rich 
Mountain, Va., July 11; Carrick's Ford, Va., July 13; at 
Hatteras Inlet, N. C, August 29; at Port Royal, S. C, 
November 7, and at Drainesville, Va., December 21. 

The Confederates had clearly demonstrated their ability 
to cope with superior numbers on the battlefield. But on 
the other hand, the Federal Government had enlisted, or- 
ganized and drilled immense armies, collected vast supplies 
of every description, built and equipped large numbers of 
war vessels, made the blockade more efifective, and prepared 
to open the next campaign with overwhelming numbers 
and resources. Both sides seemed equally determined to 
fight it out to the bitter end, and the day for peace negotia- 
tions seemed to have passed away. 

Questions Sketch of the sixteenth President. Tell of his in- 
auguration. What advice did General Scott give? How did the 
government show bad faith? Who " fired the first gun " of the 
war? Had the Southern States a right to secede under the Con- 
stitution? Had they sufficient cause for so doing? Tell of prepar- 
ations of each section for war. Relative number of soldiers en- 
gaged. The fight in Baltimore. Preliminary movements. Early 
operations in Virginia. General McClellan's campaign in West 
Virginia. Sketch the battle of Manassas (or Bull Run). Describe 
the panic. EfTect of the battle. Operations along the coast. The 
blockade. Tell of the Confederate privateers. The war in Missouri, 
and how the State was " held in the Union." The Trent afifair and 
its results. 




£n^ruvedfor M'i 




''SiiUjTy o/lht Vniud «S(iUcl< 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 273 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 
SECOND YEAR OF THE WAR, 1862. 

What Had to be Done? — It was now very clear that to 
conquer the South several prodigious results had to be 
accomplished. First, the blockade must be maintained and 
made as rigid as possible. Second, the Mississippi must be 
opened throughout its entire length. To do this, the Con- 
federacy would have to be cut in two. From Texas and the 
region on the west of the river were drawn the cattle and 
other supplies of the armies, while several of the seceded 
States lay on that side of the Father of Waters. The third 
and most difficult task of all was the destruction of the 
Army of Northern Virginia, which stood like a mountain 
wall 'before all advances against the Confederate capital. 

Operations in the West The fortunes of war turned 

against the Confederacy in the West. At midnight, on the 
i8th of January, the Confederate General Zollicofifer left his 
camp at Mill Spring, in Eastern Kentucky, and, crossing to 
the northern bank of the Cumberland, marched against the 
enemy, ten miles distant. The Federals were under the 
command of General George H. Thomas, one of their best 
officers. He was driven back at first, but soon rallied his 
men and drove the Confederates in turn. While the fight- 
ing was in progress, General Zollicofifer approached so close 
to one of the Federal regiments that an officer shot him 
dead with a revolver. His fall caused a panic, and his men 
fled. General Crittenden, the superior officer, was driven 
across the Cumberland and fell back to Gainesborough, 
Tenn., his men suffering severely from the intense cold and 
lack of provisions. 

This defeat gave Eastern Kentucky to the Federals but 
the western part of the State was grasped firmly by the Con- 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



275 



federates. General Albert Sidney Johnston, one of the 
ablest leaders of the country, held the line from Bowling 
Green, on the right, to Columbus, on the left. This line, 
naturally strong, was made still stronger by the building of 
Fort Henry on the right bank of the Tennessee in Ken- 
tucky, and Fort Donelson, on the left bank of the Cumber- 
land. Donelson was within the limits of Tennessee and 
fifteen miles southeast of Fort Henry. 




DEATH OK C.ENERAL ZOLLICOFFER. 



Fall of Fort Henry General Grant decided, in con- 
junction with the fleet under Commodore Foote, to attack 
Fort Henry. Embarking at Cairo, February i, the expedi- 
tion landed, four days later, four and one-half miles below 
the fort. The attack in front was so vigorous that Colonel 
Tilghman saw from the first that his situation was hopeless. 
He sent ofT most of his garrison, numbering about 3000, 
and with a few hundred maintained an unequal fight until 
compelled to surrender (February 6). 



270 F^CHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Fall of Fort Donelson. — Grant now moved, with his 
gunboats, up the Cumberland to attack Fort Donelson. 
The garrison numbered about 15,000, and his entire force 
about 35,000. Several attacks made on the Confederate 
lines on the 13th of February were repulsed. On the 14th, 
the forts defeated Commodore Foote's flotilla of seven gun- 
boats, the commodore himself being seriously wounded, 
and his gunboats badly damaged. The outlook for the 
defense of Donelson now seemed hopeful. But Grant held 
on with the determined pertinacity which characterized 
him, and there were divided and vacillating counsels among 
the Confederate leaders, Floyd, Pillow, and Buckner. 

On the 15th the Confederates made a sortie and drove 
back the enemy far enough to open a line of retreat, which 
was the design of the movement ; but Floyd and Pillow 
again changed their plans and ordered the troops back to 
their entrenchments. The Federals that evening attacked 
and carried a part of Buckner's lines, and it was under- 
stood that they were likely to carry the whole line the next 
morning. 

Under these circumstances a council of war determined 
to surrender all who could not escape. Before terms were 
agreed upon, General Floyd turned over the command to 
General Pillow, and he at once passed it to General Buck- 
ner, who opened negotiations. General Grant refused any 
terms but " unconditional surrender," and said that he pro- 
posed to " move immediately " on the Confederate works. 

Floyd, Pillow, Forrest and a number of the troops made 
their escape during the night, and Forrest always insisted 
that the whole Garrison could have gone out by the route 
he took. The gallant Buckner surrendered the remnant of 
the army, about 7000, on the hard and unusual terms pro- 
posed by the victor. This being the first important victory 
gained by the Federals during the war, excited great exul- 



278 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

tation at the North ; " Unconditional Surrender Grant " be- 
came the hero of the hour and the idol of his people, and the 
hopes of the Federals were raised to the highest pitch. 
A New Confederate Line of Defence Established. 

These defeats caused the establishment of a new line of 
defense by General Johnston. General Polk, at New Mad- 
rid, held the left; Beauregard, at Jackson, Tenn., the centre, 
and Johnston, at Murfreesboro', the right. Thus the Con- 
federates had been compelled to give up all of Kentucky 
and the upper part of Tennessee to the Federals. 

Inauguration of President Davis President Davis 

was inaugurated at Richmond, on Washington's birthday, 
the 22d of February. His inaugural was hopeful. While 
admitting the reverses suffered by the cause of Southern 
independence, he insisted that they should serve to rouse 
the people to greater endeavors. 

Battle of Pea Ridge or Elk Horn General Price 

wintered at Springfield, in the southern part of Missouri, 
where he received many recruits and supplies. Attacked 
by the forces of Generals Curtis and Siegel, he retreated to 
the frontiers of Missouri, Arkansas, and Indian Territory. 
Falling back still further, he was joined in the Boston 
mountains by Ben McCulloch, the famous Texas Ranger. 
General Earl Van Dorn was put in command and was 
joined by Albert Pike, with 2000 Indians. Deeming him- 
self strong enough to assume the aggressive. General Van 
Dorn set out to attack the Federals near Pea Ridge. The 
battle was a severe one, victory first tending to one side and 
then to the other. McCulloch's was among the lamentable 
deaths on the Confederate side. General Siegel, whose 
chief fame rested upon his skill in retreating, showed his 
usual ability in this engagement. The result was without 
any predominating advantage to either side ; but before the 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 279 

end of the year the upper portion of Arkansas fell into Fed- 
eral hands, and remained thus to the close of the war. 

Burnside's Expedition. — A formidable naval and 
military expedition was sent to the coast of North Carolina 
at the beginning of the year. It consisted of fifteen gun- 
boats, eight propellers and fifty-seven transports. I'his 
prodigious force succeeded in capturing Roanoke Island 
(February 7), defended', as it was, by a handful of men, and 
only seven gunboats. Newbcrn fell March 13, and Fort 
Macon followed on the 25th of April. 

The Disasters on the Coast It was about this time 

that the Federal Commodore Dupont captured the towns 
of Fernandina and Jacksonville on the Florida coast. The 
South, being without any navy or sailors, could make no 
defense against the overpowering fleets of the Federals. 
As a consequence, the blockade became more rigid and 
oppressive than ever. 

Battle of Shiloh or Pittsburg Landing. — General 
Grant, after the capture of Fort Donelson, moved up the 
Tennessee to Shiloh, or Pittsburg Landing. General Buell 
moved for the same point overland. Thus the Federal 
forces were divided. Seeing this. General Albert Sidney 
Johnston united all his troops at Corinth, Miss., and, vv'ith 
a force of 40,000, consisting of three corps and a reserve, 
set out on the 3d of April to deal Grant a crushing blow. 
Grant's army of 50,000 was on the same side of the Tennes- 
see, while Buell was approaching, and not far ofif, with 
37,000 more, and Mitchell was in supporting distance with 
18,000 men. 

The attack on the Federals was made at daylight, April 6. 
It was conducted with great skill and bravery, and Grant 
was taken by surprise. The Federal army was thrown into 
confusion, and driven headlong from the field. The Con- 
federates pressed forward with irresistible fury, driving 



280 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

everything before them, capturing position after position of 
the naturally strong line, and forcing the Federals back, till 
half-past 2 p. M., when the victory seemed to be complete, 
and only one more general and vigorous advance was 
needed to utterly annihilate the Federal army. 

At that hour, General Albert Sidney Johnston, the able 
commander, who had just led a brilliant and successful 
charge, was wounded in the leg by a minnie ball, and died in 
fifteen minutes. General Beauregard, the second in com- 
mand, was suffering from severe and protracted sickness, 
and had been in his ambulance most of the day, and when 
he assumed the command he was not himself, was ignorant 
of the real condition of afTairs, and instead of ordering an 
advance on the beaten and shattered battalions of Grant, 
who were huddled under the blufTs at Pittsburg Landing, 
and could have been forced to surrender, or have been de- 
stroyed, he recalled the Confederate advance, intending, as 
he says, to renew the conflict the next morning. 

But during the night, Buell and Mitchell came up with 
large reinforcements of fresh troops, and the next day 
Beauregard, after a gallant resistance to the advancing 
army, retired in good order from the field and leisurely fell 
back to Corinth, the enemy not seriously pressing him. In 
the first day's battle the Confederates had captured nearly 
all of the Federal field artillery, thirty flags, colors, stand- 
ards, and over 3000 prisoners, including a division com- 
mander. General Prentiss, and several brigade commanders, 
and immense supplies of small-arms, stores, and war mate- 
rial of every kind. 

The Federal loss in the tw^o days' battle was about 15,000, 
and that of the Confederates about 10,000. But the death 
of Albert Sidney Johnston was irreparable. An educated, 
gallant, and very able soldier, and a stainless, courtly gen- 
tleman, he may be fitly called the R. E. Lcc of the Western 




GeN.GRAMT 15 ON PAGE 381. ^- GEN. SHERMAN 15 ON PAGE343 



282 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

army, and it is scarcely extravagant to say that had he hved 
the independence of the South would have been established. 

Other Confederate Disasters The strongest fortifi- 
cation on the upper Mississippi was Island No. lo. After 
withstanding a furious bombardment lasting nearly a 
month, the post was obliged to surrender on the same day 
of the battle of Shiloh. This compelled the evacuation of 
Fort Pillow and of Memphis. The Mississippi was thus 
entirely cleared of Confederates above Vicksburg. 

The Fall of New Orleans The severest Confederate 

disaster of the year was the capture of New Orleans, the 
metropolis of the South. The city had been almost 
stripped of troops to reinforce Beauregard's army in Ten- 
nessee, but there were formidable defenses below the city. 
Forts Philip and Jackson mounted lOO guns, and there was 
a Confederate fleet of twelve vessels, including the ironclad 
ram Matiassas and an unfinished floating battery, the 
Louisiana, which could not be used. The 3000 volunteers 
charged with the defense of the city were poorly armed. 

The Federal expedition consisted of nearly fifty armed 
vessels commanded by Captain Farragut, and an army of 
15,000, commanded by General B. F. Butler, and was the 
most powerful naval expedition that had ever, up to this 
time, sailed under the Stars and Stripes. 

Admiral Farragut bombarded the forts for six days, dur- 
ing which nearly a thousand tons of iron were fired at them, 
but they were not materially injured. The forts could do 
little against the formidable attack because of the short 
range of their guns. On the night of April 20, one of the 
Federal gunboats passed the forts, and ascended the river 
in the darkness, and opened a path for the fleet through the 
boom of hulks and logs that obstructed the channel. At 3 
o'clock on the morning of April 24 the Federal fleet began 
steaming up the river. 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 283 

The first division, consisting of eight vessels, threaded 
its way through the tortuous opening, and, running in close 
to Fort Philip, each vessel delivered a broadside as it went 
by. Beyond the fort a furious battle took place between 
the Federal and Confederate gunboats, in which both sides 
displayed the utmost bravery. The Federal fleet continued 
to push up the river, and was followed by the second divi- 
sion, led by Commodore Farragut's flagship Hartford. 
When the third division followed the Confederate fleet was 
so overwhelmed by superior numbers, and guns that it was 
captured or destroyed, though not until it had inflicted 
great injury on the Federal fleet. The way being now 
practically open, the Federal fleet continued up the river to 
New Orleans, which city was obliged to capitulate April 25. 
General B. F. Butler took formal possession May i, and by 
his outrages upon a defenseless people secured for himself 
an immortality of infamy. 

The Monitor and Virginia (or Merrimac) Before 

the capture of the Portsmouth Navy Yard, near Norfolk, 
by the Confederates, the steam frigate Merrimac, the finest 
in the service, was scuttled. The Confederates raised and, 
under a plan presented by Captain John M. Brooke, for- 
merly Lieutenant Maury's assistant at the National Ob- 
servatory, covered her with iron plates, which sloped like 
the roof of a house, and was smeared with tallow and plum- 
bago. An iron beak or prow was fixed to the craft, which 
was renamed the Virginia. 

Naval Constructor John L. Porter, and Chief Engineer 
W. P. Williamson deserve credit for the skill and energy 
with which they carried out the plans submitted by Captain 
Brooke, and approved by Secretary Mallory, of the Navy 
Department, and pushed the Virginia to a successful com- 
pletion despite many difficulties in the lack of suitable 
material, etc. 



284 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

About noon, March 8, 1862, the Virginia steamed out 
from Norfolk into Hampton Roads. She at once made for 
the sloop of war Ciunbcrland. The latter opened with her 
tremendous broadsides, but for the first time in naval war- 
fare the solid shot did no execution. Striking the iron 
armor of the Virginia, the balls glanced hundreds of feet up 
in the air and plunged harmlessly back into the water. 
Crashing into the Cnnihcrland, the beak of the Virginia 
opened a huge hole, through which the water poured like a 
mill stream. The Cumberland went down with all on board. 
Her fiag still fluttered from the masthead above the water 
as the hull lay in a careened position on the bottom. 

The frigate Congress, seeing that she could do nothing 
against the monster, ran ashore where the water was too 
shallow for the Virginia to reach her. The ironclad poured 
shot into her until the Congress raised the white flag, and 
Commodore Buchanan, who commanded the Virginia, sent 
boats to receive her surrender. These boats were treacher- 
ously fired on, however, not only from the shore, but from 
the Congress itself, while the white flags were flying, and 
Lieutenant Minor, and Commodore Buchanan himself were 
wounded. The brave old commodore ordered that the 
Congress be destroyed with hot shot and incendiary shell, 
and this was done under Lieutenant Catesby Jones, who 
succeeded to the command. Jones continued the fight until 
dark with the United States frigates Minnesota, Roanoke, 
and St. Lazvrencc, and the batteries on the shore, and would 
doubtless have destroyed these vessels, also, but for the fact 
that they hugged the shore in shoal water, so that the 
Virginia could not get at them. 

After night, the Virginia, together with the Patrick 
Henry, the Jamcstozcn, the Teaser and the Raleigh, which 
were also engaged in the fight, anchored off Sewell's Point, 




J. MONITOR. 2. VIRGINIA C^lEKRIiMAC). 3. MINNESOTA. 



28G SCHOOL UlUTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

the wounded and prisoners being sent to Norfolk on the 
Beaufort. 

That night the Monitor, which had been laboring south- 
ward for several days from New York, reached the harbor 
and took position near the steam frigate Mhuicsota. The 
Monitor was about one-fifth the size of the Virginia, and was 
the invention of a Swede, Captain Ericsson. She had a 
deck which rose a few inches above the water, and in the 
middle an iron round-tower, which was slowly revolved by 
steam. The upper part of the hull exposed to the Federal 
fire was covered with iron plating five inches thick on the 
sides and one inch on deck. In the tower were two im- 
mense guns, each firing a ball of i66 pounds' weight. 

Early the next morning the Virginia steamed from Sew- 
ell's Point straight for the Minnesota. The Monitor ran out 
to meet her, and for the first time in the history of the world 
a battle took place between ironclads. 

The Virginia repeatedly tried to run down the Monitor, 
but when the smaller vessel did not dodge her giant foe, the 
huge beak of the latter grated over the metal deck without 
doing injury. The two fired their immense guns at each 
other, but the balls bounded ofif from the armor and little 
damage was done. 

The battle continued until the Monitor ran into shallow 
water, under the guns of Fortress Monroe, and the Virginia, 
being unable to reach her or to induce her to come out, 
finally steamed up to Norfolk for necessary repairs to her 
prow, machinery and guns. 

On the nth of April, as soon as these repairs were made, 
Commodore Tattnall, who had now been put in command 
of the Virginia and her consorts (the wooden vessels men- 
tioned above), steamed down to Flampton Roads and of- 
fered battle to the Federal fleet, which consisted of the 
Monitor, the Nangatuck (a small ironclad) and a large imm- 



SCHOOL HIHTORY OF THE UNITED HTATE>S. 2S7 

ber of wooden vessels, including the powerful l^aiidcrbilt, 
which had been especially prepared to '' run down and sink 
the Mcrrimac; " but instead of accepting the proffered bat- 
tle, the Federal fleet took refuge under the guns of Fortress 
Monroe, not venturing out, even when the Jamestown cap- 
tured two vessels at Newport News. The Confederate fleet 
held possession of the Roads for several days without in- 
ducing the Federal fleet to come out from its refuge, and 
without being able to get at them, because of shoal water 
and torpedoes that the Federals had planted in the channel. 
On the 8th of May the Federal fleet (now reinforced by 
the ironclad Galena and other vessels) took advantage of 
the absence of the Virginia at Norfolk, and began to bom- 
bard SewelTs Point ; but the Virginia promptly moved down 
to meet them and as soon as her smoke zvas seen the Federal 
fleet precipitately fled to their refuge under the guns of 
Fortress Monroe. Indeed the commander of the Monitor 
had positive orders from the Navy Department at Wash- 
ington, after the first engagement, not to tight the Virginia 
(Mcrrimac) unless forced to do so. The llrginia, therefore, 
" ruled the wave " in Hampton Roads and protected Nor- 
folk and the waterway to Richmond until the evacuation of 
Norfolk, when the pilots decided, at the last moment, that 
she drew too much water (twenty-three feet) to be carried 
up the James, and she was destroyed ofT Craney Island, 
May lo, 1862. She would never have been able to go to 
Washington, far less to New York, as she drew too much 
water for the river, and would not have been equal to a sea 
voyage ; but she unquestionably revolutionized the naval 
warfare of the world, and, while many improvements have 
since 'been made, the real inventor of ironclads was the 
modest gentleman and great scientist, Captain John M. 
Brooke, who planned the Jlrginia. Modern battleships 



288 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

are modelled not after Ericsson's Monitor, but after Brooke's 
Virginia. 

The Monitor afterwards perished ofi Cape Hatteras, and 
the claim of her crew for prize money, on the ground that 
she had defeated the Virginia, was denied by Congress, as 
the facts clearly proved that so far from this being true, she 
had been thoroughly defeated by the Virginia. 

The Advance Against Richmond. — During the au- 
tumn and winter, General McClellan had been steadily re- 
cruiting, organizing, and equipping his army, until, at the 
opening of the spring campaign, he had under him, in front 
of Washington, fully 200,000 men splendidly armed and 
equipped, while General Jos. E. Johnston had to oppose 
this mighty host only 47,306. As soon as there were indi- 
cations of McClellan's advance, Johnston fell back from 
Manassas, and by March 1 1 had established his lines on the 
south side of the Rappahannock. 

As soon as it became evident that McClellan had changed 
his plans, had transferred his army to Fortress Monroe, and 
v^ould advance on Richmond by way of the Peninsula, Gen- 
eral Johnston rapidly moved his army to Yorktown, where 
General J. B. Magruder, with a force of 11,000 men, was 
withstanding the overwhelming numbers of the enemy with 
wonderful energy, heroism, and skill. 

General McClellan reached the front of the lines at York- 
town on April 3, General Johnston assumed command there 
on the 17th of April, and the Federals were held in front of 
those lines until the night of May 3, when General Johnston 
quietly evacuated them, left his heavy guns behind, and 
began his retreat on Richmond by way of Williamsburg. 
At this last point there was a severe fight, in which John- 
ston's rear guard repulsed McClellan's advance and covered 
the retreat on Richmond. 

After several small affairs between the retreating and the 



AVff axvjjysiH^. 




290 iiCHOOL HWTORY OF THE VISITED STATES. 

advancing armies, General Johnston took his poisition in 
front of Richmond along the line of the south bank of the 
Chickahominy. McClellan drew up his splendid army on 
the north bank, throwing two-fifths of his troops across at 
Seven Pines, and fortifying his line with all of the appli- 
ances of engineering skill. There was a severe fight near 
Hanover Court House, May 2y, in which the Confederates 
were badly worsted by General Fitz John Porter, with a 
Confederate loss of about 800. 

Drewry's Bluff. — On the destruction of the Virginia, 
the only obstacles to prevent the Federal fleet from steam- 
ing up to Richmond, and bombarding the city were an in- 
complete work, with four guns, and some obstructions in 
the river at Drewry's Blufif, seven miles below Richmond. 
But the fleet delayed the attack until the 15th of May, when 
Drewry's Bluff (or Fort Darling) was so heroically defended 
by the crew of the Virginia and some others, that the attack 
of the Monitor, Galena and three wooden warships was very 
effectively repulsed ; the effort was not renewed, and Rich- 
mond was saved from further danger in that direction. 

Seven Pines and Fair Oaks. — May 31, General 
Johnston made a vigorous attack on the wing of McClel- 
lan's army south of the Chickahominy, and succeeded in 
driving a large part of it from its position with heavy loss. 
Indeed, that wing seemed about to be crushed, when Gen- 
eral Sumner threw his corps across the river on newly-con- 
structed bridges and stayed the tide of Confederate victory. 

General Johnston, having been severely wounded and 
borne from the field, the command devolved on General G. 
W. Smith, and there was not the push and determination on 
the next day, June i, which might have completed the vic- 
tory of the day before. There was some desultory fighting 
about Fair Oaks, but neither side seemed anxious to press 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 291 

the conflict, and in the evening and the next day the Con- 
federate troops were withdrawn to their old position. 

In the afternoon of this day, General Robert Edward Lee 
was, by order of President Davis, assigned to the command 
of all of the Confederate troops in Virginia. The total 
fighting forces -engaged on these two days were 32,000 
Confederates and about 36,000 Federals, and the losses 
7000 Federals and 6134 Confederates. The Confederates 
captured ten pieces of artillery, 6700 muskets, a garrison 
flag and four regimental colors, and large quantities of 
stores of every description. 

Jackson's Valley Campaign " Stonewall " Jackson 

had been made Major-General, October 7, 1861, and on the 
4tli of November assumed command of the *' Valley Dis- 
trict " to which he had been assigned. He was vigilant, 
and active with the small command under him, and the first 
of January, 1862, made a bold expedition to Romney and 
Bath, in which expedition his troops suffered great hard- 
ships because of a sudden change from balmy to severe 
winter weather. At the opening of the spring campaign of 
1862 he found himself with a force of about 5000 opposed to 
about 46,000 of the enemy. 

On March 23 he attacked the enemy at Kernstown, near 
Winchester, and, although sustaining the only defeat he 
ever suffered, succeeded in his purpose of forcing the Fed- 
erals to recall a column that was marching across the moun- 
tains to join McClellan in operations against Johnston and 
in retaining in the Valley the large Federal force which 
would otherwise have participated in the advance against 
Richmond. 

Retreating slowly up the main \"alley, while the Federals 
under General Banks were harassed and detained by fre- 
quent brilliant affairs, in which " the gallant and ubi(|ui- 
tous " Turner Ashby, of the Cavalry, greatly distinguished 



292 .SCHOOL HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES. 

himself, Jackson finally strongly posted his little army at 
Swift Run Gap, where he could resist an attack, or strike 
the Federals' flank and rear, if he attempted to move on 
Staunton. 

Ewell's division of Johnston's army being sent to rein- 
force him on the 30th of April, he left Ewell to watch Banks 
and moved so secretly and swiftly that neither Federals 
nor his friends divined his plans, until he thrilled the Con- 
federacy and sent terror to the North by the following 
laconic and characteristic dispatch : 

" Valley District, May 9, 1862. 
*' Gen. .S. Cooper : 

" God blessed our arms with victory at McDowell yester- 

dav. 

" T. J. JACKSON, Major-General." 

He had defeated the advance of Fremont, under Milroy, 
and driven them back in great confusion. After a hot pur- 
suit for several days, he paused to have a season of " thanks- 
giving for the victory," directing his chaplains to have spe- 
cial services in their commands. Then he set his forces in 
motion to cross into the Valley again to pay his respects 
once more to General Banks, who, advised of Ewell's com- 
ing, and ignorant of Jackson's movements, had retreated 
down the Valley to Strasburg. 

On the 1 6th of May, Jackson paused for a day to observe 
the season of " national humiliation and prayer " appointed 
by the Confederate President. On Sunday, 'May 18, he 
spent a quiet Sabbath at Mossy Creek, in the beautiful 
Shenandoah Valley, after which he pushed forward, united 
with Ewell at Luray, drove in Banks's flank at Front Royal 
on the afternoon of May 23, cut his retreating column at 
Middletown next day, pressed on the retreating Federals 
all night, and early on the morning of the 25th drove Banks 
in utter rout from the surrounding heights, and through 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 293 

the streets of Winchester, and as far beyond as the weary 
Confederates could follow. 

Pausing a day for a thanksgiving service, he pushed on 
towards the Potomac, intending to cross into Maryland, 
when he received information that Fremont from the West, 
and Shields, the head of McDowell's column, from the East, 
were hastening to form a junction in his rear at Strasburg. 

He at once put his army in motion, and by forced 
marches checked Fremont's advance with the one hand, 
and Shields's with the other, until his whole army, pris- 
oners, and immense wagon trains loaded with captured 
stores, passed safely the point of danger. He then moved 
leisurely up the \"alley, burning the bridges over the Shen- 
andoah to prevent a union of the forces of Shields, and 
Fremont, his rear being protected by that chivalric knight, 
and brave soldier. General Turner Ashby, who had filled the 
Valley with the fame of his brilliant achievements, and 
whose death in a severe fight near Flarrisonburg on June 
the 6di was sadly lamented as a great calamity to the Con- 
federate cause. 

The next day, June 7, at Cross Keys, Ewell's division 
defeated Fremont, and the following day at Port Republic, 
on the opposite side of the river, Jackson routed the ad- 
vance of Shields, and the armies sent to " crush " him were 
soon rapidly retreating down the Valley. " Stonewall " 
(he would have been more appropriately named " Thunder- 
bolt," " Tornado " or " Hurricane ") and his heroic " Foot 
Cavalry " had made one of the most brilliant campaigns of 
history, and written their names among the immortals. 

In thirty-two days he had marched nearly 400 miles, skir- 
mishing almost daily, fought five battles, defeated three 
armies, two of which were completely routed, captured 
twenty pieces of artillery, 4000 prisoners and immense 
Stores of all kinds, and had done all this with a loss of fewer 



294 SCHOOL BWTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

than looo men killed, wounded and missing, and with a 
force of only 15,000 men, while there were at least 60,000 in 
all opposed to him. 

Stuart's Ride Around McClellan Anxious to know 

the situation of McClellan's right flank, General Lee sent 
General J. E. B. Stuart, with about 1200 cavalry, to make a 
reconnoissance toward the White House. This enterpris- 
ing trooper, and able soldier, after securing invaluable ni- 
formation, instead of returning by the route he went, rode 
entirely around McClellan's army and returned to Rich- 
mond with captures of stores and prisoners, and especially 
with the very information which General Lee wanted on 
which to base his plan of operations. He lost only one 
man, the gallant Captain Latane, who fell leading a charge, 
and was buried by noble Confederate women. 

Seven Days' Battles. — General Lee determined, as 
soon as he took command, that he would attack McClellan 
rather than await a siege of Richmond by him. Accord- 
ingly, he concentrated before Richmond all the troops he 
could control, and ordered Jackson to join him. So se- 
cretly and rapidly did Jackson, who had just been heavily 
reinforced from Lee's army, obey this order, that Federals 
were fortifying against an expected attack from him at 
Strasburg at the very moment that he was thundering on 
McClellan's flank before Richmond. 

After Jackson and the other reinforcements had joined 
him, Lee had only 80,000 men, against McClellan's 105,000, 
in positions well chosen, and strongly fortified, and 10,000 
more at Fortress Monroe. And yet the " slow and cau- 
tious " Lee (as he has been called) did not hesitate to attack 
the Federals under the circumstances, and at Mechanicsville 
on the 26th of June, at Gaines's Mill and Cold Harbor on 
the 27th, at Savage Station on the 29th, and at White Oak 
Swamp and Frazier's farm on the 30th, he gained decisive 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF TEE UNITED STATES. 295 

victories which forced McClellan from every position he 
held to the cover of his gunboats on James river. 

On July I, McClellan made at Malvern Hill a last stand 
to save his army, and crowning the hill with his artillery, he 
made a skillful and heroic resistance, which repulsed with 
heavy loss several attacks (disjointed and in small force, be- 
cause of misapprehension of orders) made upon him before 
night put an end to the contest. 

General Lee had concentrated his army for an assault the 
next morning, which must have proved disastrous to the 
Federals, but McClellan wisely and skillfully retreated in 
the night to a strong position at Harrison's Landing (Tur- 
key Bend), where the river and his gunboats protected his 
flanks. 

General Lee found this position so strong that, after a 
very careful reconnoissance, he reluctantly decided that it 
would not be wise to attack. 

While McClellan's army was not annihilated, as Lee de- 
signed, and as would probably have been done had his 
orders been carried out by certain of his subordinates, yet 
the so-called siege of Richmond had been raised, McClel- 
lan's beaten and shattered army had taken refuge under 
cover of his gunboats at Harrison's Landing, thirty miles 
below Richmond, and the Federal Government, instead of 
now expecting the capture of Richmond, were seriously 
alarmed for the safety of Washington. 

The Confederate loss in these battles was 15.765, and that 
of the Federals 16,365, the Confederates attacking strongly 
fortified positions and their loss being heavier in conse- 
quence, while Lee captured fifty-two pieces of artillery, up- 
wards of 35.000 stand of small-arms, a large number of flags 
and immense stores of every description, though the 
enemy destroyed of these far larger quantities than were 
captured. 



296 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Campaign in Northern Virginia — General John Pope 
had assumed command of the three armies which Jackson 
liad beaten, and which had now been consoHdated into 
" The Anny of Virginia," and issued to his troops, July 14, 
a bombastic address, and infamous orders directing- his 
army to " live on the country," holding citizens within his 
lines responsible for all damage done by guerrillas, and or- 
dering " all disloyal male citizens " to be arrested and sent 
beyond his lines. 

The Confederate Government issued retaliatory orders, 
and the war would have become at once very savage had 
not the Federal Government, after Pope's crushing defeat, 
repudiated his shameless orders. 

Although General Lee had opposed to him at Harrison's 
Landing McClellan's 90,000 men, rapidly recuperating and 
receiving reinforcements, he ordered Jackson, on the 13th 
of July, to take his own and Ewell's divisions (numbering in 
all 11,000 men) to Gordonsville, to hold Pope in check until 
McClellan's plans should be developed. In the early days 
of August, Jackson's force was increased to 24,000 men by 
the addition of A. P. Hill's division and Stafford's brigade, 
and, although his force was not half so large as Pope's, who 
was also being reinforced by Burnside from Fredericks- 
burg, he crossed the Rapidan, and, on the 9th of August, at 
Cedar Run, defeated, with heavy loss, his old antagonist, 
" Quartermaster Banks," who commanded Pope's advance, 
driving him some two miles and compelling him to bury his 
dead under a flag of truce. 

General Lee, being now convinced that no further oper- 
ations against Richmond would be attempted by McClellan, 
determined to strike Pope before all of McClellan's troops 
could join him, and the Second Manassas Campaign fol- 
lowed. Pushing Pope back across the Rappahannock, Lee 
was prevented by a severe storm and a swollen river from 



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2&8 SCHOOL BISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

concentrating his whole army in Pope's rear at Warrencon. 
Stuart, having captured Pope's headquarter wagons and 
valuable papers by a brilliant raid on Catlett's Station, Lee 
sent Stonewall Jackson on his famous flank movement, 
which captured Manassas Junction, with immense supplies 
of stores of every description, on the night of the 26th, and 
held Pope in check until General Lee, with Longstreet's 
corps, came up. On the old battlefield of Manassas, 
August 28-30, the Confederates inflicted upon Pope a 
bloody defeat, which drove him in great confusion across 
Bull Run. 

General Pope had actually engaged in these battles over 
70,000 men, with large reinforcements coming up from 
Alexandria, while General Lee's force was barely 50,000. 
Pope's loss was over 30,000; Lee's loss was 7244. Lee's 
captures were 9000 prisoners, thirty pieces of artillery, up- 
wards of 20,000 stand of small-arms, numerous colors, and 
a large amount of stores, besides Jackson's captures at 
Manassas Junction. 

After a stubborn stand to save his trains at Chantilly (Ox 
Hill), on September i, although he had received a reinforce- 
ment of 20,000 fresh troops at Centreville, and was being 
largely reinforced every day, General Pope continued his 
retreat until his beaten army took refuge in the strong forti- 
fications in front of Washington. General Pope was sent 
to the West to fight Indians, and was heard of no more dur- 
ing the war. Although McClellan was under the frown of 
the government, the authorities felt obliged to put him in 
command again. 

The Maryland Campaign. — As it would have been 
folly to attack the works on the south side of the Potomac, 
General Lee determined to cross over into Maryland, which 
he did near Leesburg, and massed his army in the vicinity 
of Frederick, Md., on the 7th of September. He de- 



300 ISCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

terniined to capture Harper's Ferry and then concentrate 
his army for battle with McClellan, and issued confidential 
orders, detailing his order of march. One of these orders 
was lost and fell into the hands of McClellan, who at once 
laid aside his usual caution and hastened forward with a 
purpose to break through the mountain passes, raise the 
siege of Harper's Ferry, and attack Lee's army in detail. 
But Jackson pushed on Harper's Ferry so rapidly, and made 
such dispositions for a vigorous attack upon it, and the 
Confederates held the South Mountain passes with such 
heroic pertinacity, that before McClellan could break 
through Harper's Ferry surrendered, September 15, with 
11,500 prisoners, 13,000 stand of small-arms, seventy-three 
pieces of artillery and large quantities of provisions and 
stores of every description. 

Lee rapidly concentrated his army at Sharpsburg, or An- 
tietam, as it is called by the Federals, where, before a large 
part of his troops got up, he was attacked by McClellan at 
early dawn, the 17th of September. The fierce combat 
raged all day, until night put an end to it ; and, although 
McClellan had 87,000 men and Lee only 35,000 after all his 
troops came up (his army having been depleted by the fear- 
ful marches of his ragged, barefooted men), the Confeder- 
ates not only held their ground, but considerably advanced 
their lines on a part of the field. It was one of the bloodiest 
battles of the war, the Federals losing 12,469 and the Con- 
federates 8000. General Lee remained in line of battle all 
day of the i8th, " expecting and, indeed, hoping for another 
attack," as he himself expressed it. The attack was not 
made, and as he had information that McClellan was being 
largely reinforced, he withdrew that night to the south side 
of the Potomac, the movement being made without molesta- 
tion by any of the Federals, in good order, and without loss 
of men or material. 




GEN.FJ.PORTER 15 ON PAGE 299. 



302 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

On the 20th, McClellan attempted to follow, and Sykes's 
division crossed the Potomac at Boteler's Ford, under 
cover of the heavy artillery fire from guns which crowned 
the heights on the north bank and commanded the southern 
approaches ; but A. P. Hill fell upon them with his famous 
" Light Division " and literally drove them into the river, 
with fearful slaughter. Then followed a season of rest and 
recuperation, much needed by both armies and only inter- 
rupted by a brilliant raid of " Jeb " Stuart, who crossed the 
Potomac above Williamsport on October the loth with 1800 
of his troopers, and a second time made the entire circuit of 
McClellan's army, then recrossed the river at White's Ford 
with his prisoners and captures. 

The Battle of Fredericksburg McClellan had in- 
curred the severest censure of his government and of many 
of the Northern newspapers for not " pressing and crushing 
Lee's beaten army," and after he had finally crossed the 
river east of the mountains, and concentrated his army 
about Warrenton, Va., on the night of November the 7th 
he received orders from Washington displacing him from 
the command and putting General A. E. Burnside at the 
head of the army. 

Burnside changed McClellan's plans, and moved on 
Fredericksburg, only to find the advance of Lee confront- 
ing him on November 17. After bombarding the town on 
the nth of December with 143 guns, posted on Stafford 
Heights, and meeting a stout resistance from- Barksdale's 
brigade of gallant Mississippians, he succeeded in laying his 
pontoons and crossing his army. Lee had only resisted 
Burnside's crossing the Rappahannock at all in order to 
gain time to concentrate his troops, and form his lines on 
the hills beyond the valley, extending from near the river 
above the town to Hamilton's Crossing below. 

With 113,000 men and 367 guns (147 of them posted on 
Stafford Heights so as to sweep the battlefield), Burnside 



SCHOOL BISTORT OF THE UNITED STATES. 303 

attacked Lee, who, with 78,000 men, only a part of whom 
were actually engaged, occupied a strong, natural position. 
Only a part of the line was strengthened by hastily con- 
structed earthworks for the Artillery, and rifle-pits for the 
Infantry. The result was that Burnside received a crush- 
ing defeat, both at Marye's Hill, near Fredericksburg, and 
on Jackson's front, near Hamilton's Crossing — his loss 
being 12,653, while Lee's loss was but 5322. His subordi- 
nate Generals were so unanimous in opposing his purpose 
of renewing the attack, which Lee expected and eagerly 
waited for, that Burnside availed himself of a dark and 
stormy night on the 15th, and recrossed the river, where his 
strong works and heavy artillery rendered him safe from a 
counter-attack by Lee. 

Thus closed the campaign of 1862 in Virginia, except that 
on the 26th of December Stuart took 1800 of his troopers, 
under Hampton and the Lees, on a raid to the Federal rear, 
making large captures, and making a circuit through Lou- 
doun and Fauquier counties before returning to Culpeper. 

Military Movements in Kentucky After the battle 

of Shiloh the Federal army was heavily reinforced. Hal- 
leck assumed command ; and with an immense army, began 
a series of slow advances against Beauregard at Corinth. 
Beauregard destroyed everything of value and withdrew 
before the superior force. Halleck entered and took pos- 
session of Corinth on the 30th of May, as he might have 
done weeks before. Beauregard established himself at 
Tupelo, fifty miles south of Corinth. 

General John H. Morgan of Lexington, Ky., and General 
Nathan Bedford Forrest, of Memphis, Tenn., now begun 
those operations on communications of the Federals 
(" Raids ") which rendered them so famous, and were so 
valuable in disconcerting the plans of Federal commanders. 

July 4th, Morgan left Knoxville with 900 men, and made 



304 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

a raid into Kentucky, returning to Livingston on July 28th 
with 1200 men. In twenty-four days he marched over one 
thousand miles, captured seventeen towns, and destroyed 
all of the Government supplies and arms in them, dispersed 
about 1500 Home Guards, captured and paroled nearly 
1200 regular troops, and lost only ninety of his own men 
killed, wounded, and missing. 

On July 13th, Colonel N. B. Forrest, with a force of 
about 1400 men, captured Murfreesboro, Tenn., with its 
entire garrison of 1400 men, a number of guns, and a large 
amount of stores of every description. Forrest captured 
other places, and threatened Nashville. 

By the last of August General Bragg, who had succeeded 
Beauregard, he being on sick furlough, had an army of 
60,000 men ; Kirby Smith's corps was at Knoxville, while 
the troops of Hardee and Polk were with Bragg at Chat- 
tanooga. All were ordered to march through Kentucky to 
Louisville, threatening Cincinnati on the way. 

Kirby Smith marched from Knoxville, Tenn., and con- 
centrated at Richmond, Ky., on August 30th, about 12,000 
men, with which he attacked and routed an equal force of 
Federals. His victory was very complete. The Fed- 
erals, under Generals Manson and Nelson, were so fiercely 
assailed by the Divisions of Cleburne and Churchill, that 
they were driven in panic from the field, losing 1050 killed 
and wounded, 4828 captured, including General Manson, 
nine pieces of field artillery, 10,000 stand of arriis, and large 
quantities of supplies of every description. The Confed- 
erate loss was 450 killed and wounded. 

General Smith occupied Lexington, Ky., on the 2d of 
September, Frankfort on the 3d, and Shellbyville on the 
4th. He sent General Heth towards Covington. He was 
received everywhere with the greatest enthusiasm by the 
people, the Confederate flag waved throughout " Blue 



SCHOOL HWrORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 305 

Grass " Kentucky, recruiting stations were established, and 
recruits flocked to his standard, and he came into posses- 
sion of vast quantities of stores of every kind, arms, ammu- 
nition, wagons, horses, and mules. 

General Bragg's advance from Chattanooga had been 
delayed by want of transportation, and was further retarded 
by the condition of the roads, and the uncertainty of Buell's 
movements from Nashville. 

General J. R. Chalmers was repulsed, with loss, in an 
attack on Munfordville, September 14th, it being much 
stronger than he had been informed, but on the i6th Gen- 
eral Bragg invested the place with Hardee's and Polk's 
corps, and demanded its surrender. The brave commander, 
Colonel J. T. Wilder, being satisfied that resistance would 
be useless, promptly surrendered his entire garrison of 4000 
men, with ten pieces of artillery and a large quantity of 
ammunition and military stores, with all of his horses, 
mules, and material of every description. This bloodless 
victory elated the Confederates, but it caused further delay 
in the advance of Bragg to unite with Kirby Smith. Bragg 
reached Bardstown September 23d, having directed Kirby 
Smith to co-operate with him in a move on Louisville, but 
Buell entered Louisville September 25th, and reinforce- 
ments soon swelled his force to 100,000. 

On October 4th, Hon. Richard Hawes was formally in- 
augurated at Frankfort Provisional Governor of Kentucky, 
to succeed Governor George Johnson, who was killed at 
Shiloh. 

Buell moved out of Louisville on the ist of October, and 
on the 8th the battle of Perryville was fought by a part of 
Bragg's army, under Generals Polk and Hardee, and a part 
of Buell's army, under Generals McCook and Rosseau. 



30G aCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The Confederates drove the Federals off, and held the whole 
of the battlefield. 

The loss on both sides was heavy. Out of 15,000 of all 
arms, the Confederate loss was 510 killed, 2635 wounded, 
and 251 missing — a total of 3396. The Federal loss was 
845 killed, 2851 wounded, and 515 missing — a total of 
4241. The next day the Confederate force, 40,000 strong, 
was concentrated at Harrodsburg, the Federal army, about 
twice as strong, was in line of battle some two miles ofif, 
and a great battle was expected. But neither seemed dis- 
posed to make the attack, and Bragg decided to retreat 
through the Cumberland mountains into Tennessee, which 
he did successfully, carrying with him a wagon train forty 
miles long, loaded with supplies of every kind, and large 
herds of cattle, and droves of mules, hogs, and horses. 

Buell's management was unsatisfactory to the authorities, 
and, on the 30th of October, he was superseded by Rose- 
crans. Meanwhile, Bragg gained a safe refuge in Ten- 
nessee. 

Military Movements in Mississippi — General Sher- 
man was in command at Memphis, and Rosecrans was at 
Corinth, under orders to check the Confederate army of the 
Mississippi if it attempted to cross the Tennessee and attack 
Buell. The Confederate General Price, at luka, was at- 
tacked by Rosecrans and forced out (September 19). Be- 
ing joined by Van Dorn and Lovell, Price drove in the 
pickets of Rosecrans, October 2, and the next day assailed 
the Federals with great impetuosity at Corinth, driving 
them from their position. During the night. Rosecrans 
made a skillful disposition of his forces. Nothing could 
exceed the heroism shown by the Confederates in making 
their attack the next day, nor the bravery of the Federals 
in repelling it. The latter held their ground, and, after 



SCHOOL BI STORY OF TFII'J cr^TITED STATES. 307 

dreadful losses on both sides, the military situation re- 
mained as it was before the battle. 
Operations in the Trans=Mississippi Department — 

At Lone Jack, August lOth, Colonel Cockrell, with 800 
men, attacked 1000 Federals, and after six hours' fighting 
routed them, with a loss of half of their men, and two pieces 
of Artillery. 

At Newtonia, September the 30th, Colonel Douglas H. 
Cooper and Colonel Joe Shelby defeated the Federals, and 
inflicted on them a loss of 1000 men. 

At Caz'C Hill, November 17th, General Blunt made an 
unsuccessful attack on the Confederates under General J. S. 
Marmaduke, and at Prairie Grove, December 7th, Flind- 
man and Marmaduke defeated Herron and Blunt in a hotly 
contested battle, in which each side lost about 1800 men. 

Sioux War Under the leadership of Little Crow and 

other chiefs, the Sioux (Soo) Indians resented the failure 
of the Federal Government to pay them money which was 
their due, and began hostilities wdiich resulted in the mas- 
sacre of over 700 and the driving of thousands from their 
homes in Minnesota, Iowa and Dakota. The Federal 
Colonel Sibley made a campaign, which broke the power of 
the Indians. He took 500 prisoners, and hung thirty-nine 
on one scaffold at Mankato, Minn. 

War in New Mexico. — The Confederate General Sib- 
ley raised a 'brigade in Texas, marched into New Mexico, 
and gained victories over the Federals at Valverde, Febru- 
ary 21, Glorietta, March 27, and Peratta, April 23, 1862. 
But as it would have required a much larger force than he 
could command to hold the country permanently, Sibley 
returned to take part in more important movements. 

Operations of Morgan and Wheeler After Bragg's 

retreat from Kentucky he made his Fleadquarters at Mur- 
freesboro, while Rosecrans occupied Nashville, and con- 



308 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

tiguous points. On the 7th of December General John H. 
Morgan, with a force of Kentuckians (Infantry, Artillery, 
and Cavalry), attacked a superior force of P^ederals at 
Hartsville, Tenn., and after an hour's brisk fighting the 
Federal force of 2000 surrendered at discretion with arms, 
wagons, stores, and two pieces of artillery, all of which 
were carried back safely to Murfreesboro. Morgan's loss 
was eighteen killed and seventy-one wounded in his In- 
fantry, and a few wounded in his Cavalry. 

On the 26th of December, General Rosecrans moved out 
from Nashville, but General Joseph Wheeler, with his Cav- 
alry, made so stubborn a resistance that it took the Federal 
army four days to march twenty miles over the excellent 
turnpikes, and Bragg had ample time to concentrate his 
army at Murfreesboro, and form his line of battle along 
Stone river. 

Battle of Murfreesboro or Stone River. — Bragg 
awaited the expected attack of the enemy, but as it was not 
made he assumed the offensive, and on the early morning 
of December the 31st the battle was opened by an attack of 
General McCown and General Cheatham on the enemy's 
lines. The battle raged fiercely all day, and every inch of 
ground was bravely contested, but the Confederate troops 
(composed largely of Tennesseeans) steadily drove back the 
enemy for several miles — capturing prisoners, artillery, 
etc. — and held the field against every attempt to dislodge 
them. General Wharton, with his Cavalry, '' did gallant 
service in the Federal rear, and on their flank, and made 
and secured important captures. 

Except severe skirmishing, there was no fighting the 
next day, but on the 2d of January, 1863, Bragg again took 
the offensive, and ordered General John C. Breckinridge, 
with his Division, to carry the crest in his front, on the 
west side of the river. This was a very strong position, 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 309 

but the gallant Kentuckian and his Division of heroes, 
under a terrific fire and with fearful loss, charged and cap- 
tured the hill. It being found, however, that this position 
was commanded by the guns on the opposite side of the 
river, Breckinridge was ordered to withdraw, and reluct- 
antly fell back to the line he occupied before his brilliant 
charge. 

This practically closed the battle. Rosecrans did not at- 
tack, and as Bragg was informed that the Federals were 
being reinforced, he retired on the morning of January 4th, 
and Wheeler with his Cavalry held the field until daybreak 
on the 5th, when he fell back, and Rosecrans telegraphed 
the Secretary of War : " God has crowned our arms with 
victory." 

But it was a very curious " victory " for the Federal 
arms. Rosecrans had in the battle, according to his own 
ofificial report, 46,940 men, with a reserve of 7,495 at Nash- 
ville, 3550 at Gallatin, and nearly 4000 at Bowling Green 
and Clarksville — a total of 61,985 within easy call, with 
much larger numbers to be had when needed. 

Bragg had only 37,712 of all arms, with no reserves to 
call on. 

Rosecrans lost 8788 killed and wounded, and 6,273 cap- 
tured, making a total loss of 15,061. Besides this the Con- 
federates captured twenty-eight pieces of Artillery, and 
other spoils of victory. 

Bragg's total loss was 10,266 — of whom 9000 were 
killed and wounded, and 1200 of the badly wounded left in 
the hospitals in Murfreesboro constituted nearly all of the 
prisoners which Rosecrans took. 

Wheeler and Wharton, with their Cavalry, made fre- 
quent and successful raids to the Federal rear during the 
battles along Stone river, and John FI. Morgan made a 
most successful raid into Kentucky, capturing 2477 prison- 



310 HCIIOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

ers, and a large amount of stores and arms, and destroyed 
railways and a large amount of property of every descrip^ 
tion. 

The Defense of Vicksburg May i8th, 1862, Com- 
modore S. Phillips Lee, with the advance division of a fleet 
of Federal gunboats, appeared before Vicksburg, and de- 
manded its surrender. General M. L. Smith, who com- 
manded six batteries and a very inadequate force, the 
Mayor of the city, L. Lindsay, and the Military Governor, 
Colonel James A. Autrey, all gave brave answers in refusal 
of the summons, and thus begun the heroic defense of 
Vicksburg, which was maintained for over a year against 
the mighty combinations brought to bear on the city. 

The fleet w^as largely reinforced, and the bombardment 
was fearful, but by the middle of June it was fully demon- 
strated that Vicksburg could not be taken by naval forces 
alone. 

An attempt to change the channel of the Mississippi by 
a canal across the neck opposite Vicksburg proved, also, a 
signal failure. The " Father of Waters " w^as obdurate 
against this strategy. 

The ironclad ram Arkansas (though constructed under 
very great lack of material, and obstacles of every kind), 
commanded 'by the skillful and heroic Captain L N. Brown, 
came out of the Yazoo into the Mississippi on the 15th of 
July, and made a most gallant and successful fight against 
the whole Federal fleet, winning a place beside her sister, 
the Virginia (old Mcrriniac). 

Failing to destroy the Arkansas, the Federal fleet soon 
after disappeared from before Vicksburg, having kept up 
the bombardment sixty-seven days, and fired some 25,000 
missiles, but, strange to say, there were, during this time, 
only seven killed and fifteen wounded in the batteries, and 
two killed in the city, one of them being Mrs. Gamble, 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 311 

whose heroic patriotism and devoted work in the hospitals 
was so marked and so constant. 

July 5th, General John C. Breckinridge, with about 
4000 men, started from Vicksburg to attack General Wil- 
liams at Baton Rouge, it being agreed that the Arkansas 
should co-operate. But the ram was really in no condition 
for such an enterprise, and in an efTort to be on time one of 
her engines broke down, and the other drove her ashore 
within eight miles of her destination. On the approach of 
the Essex, and in the certainty that other Federal ironclads 
would soon be upon her, Lieutenant Stephens (who com- 
manded in the absence of Captain Brown, who was ill) 
blew up the Arkansas to prevent her surrender. 

Unaware of this disaster, Breckinridge attacked, cap- 
tured three lines of works, and drove the Federals to the 
cover of their boats. The Confederate loss was heavy, 
as was, also, that of the Federals, General Williams himself 
being among the killed. 

Early in October Grant determined to concentrate upon 
Vicksburg an irresistible force. He moved himself early 
in November, and established his Headquarters at Oxford, 
Miss., ordering Sherman to come down from Memphis with 
30,000 troops and a flotilla of gunboats, and setting other 
columns in motion, which would converge on Vicksburg 
about 100.000 troops. 

But his plans were disarranged and frustrated by several 
very bold movements and victories of the Confederates. 

On the 19th of December, Bedford Forrest drove the 
garrison from Jackson, Tenn., and made so clean a sweep 
of the enemy, their stores and railways, north of Jackson, 
that 20,000 troops had to be detached from the columns 
concentrating on Vicksburg to meet him. 

On the 20th of December, General Van Dorn, in com- 
mand of the Cavalry of General John C. Pemberton, who 
now commanded the Departn;ient of Mississippi, made a 



312 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

dash on Holly Springs, the supply depot of General Grant. 
He surprised the garrison, captured the town and destroyed 
trains and supplies amounting to about a million and a half 
dollars in value. This forced Grant to suspend his advance 
and fall back to Holly Springs. 

Sherman, however, with his 30,000 troops and large 
flotilla of boats, moved down from Memphis under his 
orders to " proceed to reduce Vicksburg." 

He made his chief attack December 29th, at Chickasaw 
Bayou, having felt the lines at other points, where the 
works were held by General Stephen D. Lee, who had so 
greatly distinguished himself in command of Artillery in 
the Army of Northern Virginia, and whom President Davis 
pronounced " one of the best all-around soldiers whom the 
war produced." General Lee had about 2700 men to op- 
pose the host brought against him, but he had a strong 
position, handled his command with marked ability, and 
won one of the most brilliant victories of the war. The 
Confederates heroically held their position, and defeated 
every assault, and as a result Sherman re-embarked his 
army and went to Milliken's Bend. Sherman's loss in this 
battle was 154 killed, 757 wounded, 528 missing — in all 
1439 — while Lee's loss was thirty-six killed, seventy-eight 
v/ounded, and three missing — a total of 134. 

Thus closed the successful defense of Vicksburg during 
the year 1862. 

Questions. — Show what had to be done in order to conquer 
the South. Tell of operations in the West. Describe the fall of 
Fort Henry. Of Fort Donelson. Describe the new line of defense 
established by General Johnston. Give a description of the battle 
of Pea Ridge. Burnside's naval and military expedition. What 
Federal successes were gained on the coast? Describe the battle 
of Shiloh. What other Confederate reverses followed? Describe 
the fall of New Orleans. What is the history of the Virginia, or 
Merrimac? Tell what was done by her, March 8. Give a history 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 313 

of the Monitor. McClellan's numbers and movements. Fight at 
Drewry's Blufif. Seven Pines and Fair Oaks. Jackson's Valley 
campaign. Describe Stuart's ride around McClellan. Seven Day's 
battles. Give dates and results of the battles fought. Tell of 
Gen. Pope, his orders and his plans. Jackson's movenments, and 
the battle of Cedar Run. Maryland campaign. Fredericksburg. 
Movements in Kentucky. What of the military movements in 
Mississippi? Operations in the Trans-Mississippi Department? 
Sioux War? War in New Mexico? Operations of Morgan and 
Wheeler? Battle of Murfreesboro, or Stone River? Defense of 
Vicksburg? 

CHAPTER XXIX. 
THIRD YEAR OF THE WAR, 1863. 

President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. — 

Under the plea of " military necessity," President Lincoln 
declared that his emancipation proclamation, issued during 
the previous September, should be operative on the ist of 
January, 1863. This momentous edict set free, in theory, 
4,000,000 slaves among the States striving for their inde- 
pendence. It could produce no immediate efifect, but the 
end was the abolition forever of slavery in North America. 

Mr. Lincoln had said in his inaugural address that he had 
no right to interfere with slavery in the States, and no dis- 
position to do so if he had the right. His proclamation was 
clearly unconstitutional, his plea of " military necessity " a 
shallow pretext. The final consummation of the edict, by 
a triumph of force over justice and right, was as bold a 
piece of wholesale robbery as ever the conqueror inflicted 
upon the conquered. 

Confederate Success at Galveston On the first day 

of the year a notable success was gained by the Confeder- 
ates at Galveston. Texas. This port had been sealed, like 
all others in the South, by the blockade. General Alagruder 
collected artillery at Houston, and occupied the works 



314 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

erected opposite the island on which Galveston stands. 
Two steam packets were con\-erted into gunboats, that were 
made shot-proof by cotton bales. They were manned by 
Texas Cavalry and accompanied by tenders of yachts 
crowded with volunteers. They quickly moved up and en- 
gaged the Federal steamer Harriet Lane, one of the block- 
ading fleet. One gunboat was driven ofif, but the other ran 
alongside, and, under a brisk fire of rifles, the Texans leaped 
aboard of the Federal steamer, whose captain was killed, 
with most of her crew. The fiag-ship IVestfield tried to help 
the Harriet Lane, but was blown up, to prevent capture, by 
her commander, who perished, with some of his crew. 
Meanwhile, the Confederate land troops took possession of 
the town, when the Federals, being without artillery, sur- 
rendered. The blockade was raised and the Confederacy 
retained possession of Galveston to the close of the war. 

Fall of Vicksburg and Port Hudson. — Grant deter- 
mined to concentrate all of his forces, and all of his ener- 
gies on the capture of Vicksburg, the opening of the 
Mississippi, and the severing of the Confederacy. 

April i6, the Federal fleet ran the gauntlet under a tre- 
mendous fire from the batteries, while Grant, with a power^ 
ful land force, passed down the west side of the river, and 
then crossed to the east side and moved northward. He 
now had General J. E. Johnston behind him at Jackson, 
while General Pemberton, with his strong garrison, was in 
front. Grant's overwhelming numbers and prompt move- 
ments enabled him to defeat Pemberton at Port Gibson, 
May I, and then advance rapidly to Jackson, where John- 
ston was forced back, May 14, as he was hastening to the 
relief of Pemberton. Two days later Pemberton was forced 
from his position at Champion Hills, then defeated at Big 
Black river, and finally went into the works of Vicksburg, 




Several who were major-generals at this time became lieutenant-generals, and their 
pictures appear in another group. 



316 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

although he had been ordered by Johnston not to allow his 
army to be shut up there. 

May 22, Grant made, with his entire army, a desperate 
assault on Vicksburg, but was repulsed with great 
slaughter. The siege was pushed with remorseless vigor, 
and the place defended with the utmost heroism. There 
was mining and counter-mining. The sight of a head 
above the works brought a converging storm of bullets. 
Every part of the city was reached by the Federal shells, 
and the inhabitants burrowed and lived underground most 
of the time to avoid the tempest of death. At the end of 
forty-seven days the defenders were on the verge of starva- 
tion, and their situation being hopeless, General Pemberton 
surrendered July 4. Grant had between 75,000 and 100,000 
men, with constant reinforcements pouring it. Pemberton 
had about 29,000 — a large proportion of whom were dis- 
abled by disease or exhaustion. 

General Banks had tried in vain to capture Port Hudson 
while the siege of Vicksburg was in progress. Now that 
the most important post had fallen. Port Hudson became 
untenable, and surrendered July the 8th. Thus, at last, the 
Mississippi was opened from its source to the Gulf, and the 
Confederacy was cut in twain. 

Sabine Pass, Texas September 8 a Federal fleet 

numbering twenty-three vessels and a force estimated at 
10,000 men, attempted to take possession of Sabine River, 
and attacked Fort Grigsby, located at Sabine Pass, and 
defended by forty-two men of the " Davis Guards," two 
Lieutenants and six guns, all under the command of Lieu- 
tenant Richard W. Dowling, Captain F. H. Odium being 
temporarily absent. The resjilt of the battle was that the 
heroic defenders of the fort not only held their position, but 
captured two gunboats, disab|ed a third, took eighteen guns 
and large quantities of ammuhition and stores, captured 150 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 317 

prisoners, killed fifty, wounded a large number, and drove 
the fleet out of the river, without the loss of a single man 
on their part or serious damage to the fort. History shows 
no more heroic fight or more glorious victory. 

Battle of Chickamauga. — Rosecrans remained idle 
after the battle of Stone River, until June, and Bragg with- 
drew into Georgia. Rosecrans was pursuing Bragg, when 
the latter, having been reinforced, turned upon him with 
such suddenness that the Federal army narrowly escaped 
destruction. The scattered troops were hurriedly brought 
together, and the two armies came in collision at Chick- 
amauga, where was fought one of the bloodiest battles of 
the war. 

At the end of the first day (September 19) the result was 
indecisive, but disaster came to the Federals on the second 
day. The left wing was hard pressed, and the movement of 
the troops to its help caused a gap in the Federal lines. 
Quick to see the opening, Longstreet charged through it, 
forcing apart the Federal right and centre. Sheridan 
fought desperately, but was swept back, as was Rosecrans 
himself, by the tumultuous flight of the defeated Federals. 
The only troops to hold their ground were those of General 
George H. Thomas on the left. If he yielded the whole 
Federal army would be routed. He stood firmly against 
the repeated charges, and well won the title of the " Rock 
of Chickamauga," which remained with liim through life. 
But he, too, retreated under cover of the night. 

General Rosecrans reported that he had for duty on the 
morning of September 20th, 6'/,Syy men, and that his losses 
were 16,170 killed, wounded and missing. He lost 8000 
prisoners and sixty-six pieces of Artillery. 

General Forrest, who had the advance, reported the de- 
moralized condition of Rosecrans's army in Chattanooga, 
and urged an immediate advance, and there seems little 



318 HCEOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

doubt that prompt action on the part of Bragg would have 
resulted in the destruction of the Federal army. 

But Bragg contented himself with occupying the sur- 
rounding hills, cutting ofif the Federal communications, 
and attempting to starve them into surrender. 

Battle of Chattanooga The situation of Rosecrans 

was alarming, for, unless the siege of Chattanooga was 
raised, he and his army would be starved into submission. 
Grant lost no time in going to the help of the endangered 
forces. Hooker and two corps of the Army of the Potomac 
were brought by rail to Chattanooga, while a large part of 
the troops that had captured Vicksburg were hurried to the 
same point. This gave the Federals overwhelmingly supe- 
rior forces, though the position of Bragg was the stronger. 

Unaware of the formidable preparations on the part of 
the Federal forces, Bragg detached Longstreet's command 
and sent it against Knoxville. Grant determined to strike 
Bragg before Longstreet could get back. Accordingly, 
Hooker and his division climbed the steep side of Lookout 
mountain, and, brushing away the weak opposition, took 
possession. This was the famed " battle above the clouds " 
of which so much has been made, though it is hardly worthy 
the name of a battle. 

Capture of Missionary Ridge The capture of Mis- 
sionary Ridge was a far more creditable exploit to the 
Federals. It was on November 25 that Sherman attacked 
at the northern end of Missionary Ridge, while Hooker as- 
saulted at the southern end. Thus Bragg, in order to de- 
fend the endangered points, was compelled to weaken his 
centre. Grant saw his opportunity, and launched Thomas 
and his veterans against it. They swept everything before 
them, and instead of halting after capturing the rifle-pits, as 
they had been ordered to do, they dashed up the mountain 
slope in a whirlwind of enthusiasm, never pausing until at 




Map OF 
CHATTANOOGA CAMPAIGN 

showing 
BATTLEFIELD OF CHICKAMAUGA. 



320 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

the summit, where they planted their standards. The Con- 
federates retreated before one of the most brilhant Federal 
achievements of the war. 

The Siege of Knoxville Raised — It will be remem- 
bered that Bragg had sent Longstreet against Knoxville, 
which city was invested by the Confederate commander. 
His soldiers were ragged, starving and without tents, but 
Burnside was shut up in the city, with the prospect of star- 
vation before him. Such would have been the inevitable 
end had not Grant, a hundred miles away at Chattanooga, 
sent a column to the relief of Burnside. Before this for- 
midable advance, Longstreet felt obliged to retire towards 
Virginia. Before doing so, however, he made an assault on 
Fort Saunders, in which officers and men displayed great 
gallantry, but which was repulsed w'itli very heavy loss, as 
the position was impregnable to direct assault. 

Operations of Morgan and Forrest — Having made 
the circuit of Rosecrans's rear, John H. Morgan, with 2500 
men, crossed the Cumberland on the 2d of July, and on 
the 8th crossed the Ohio into Indiana at Bradenburg, forty 
miles below Louisville. With large bodies of Federal Cav- 
alry and Infantry in pursuit, Morgan dashed across Indiana 
into Ohio — capturing large numbers of prisoners and 
paroling about 2000 of them — and was attempting to cross 
into West Virginia on the 21st of July at Buffington Island, 
when a large part of his forces were captured. 

On the 26th, Morgan, his horses and men completely ex- 
hausted, was surrounded by an overwhelming force and 
compelled to surrender. He lost about half of his com- 
mand, but made immense captures, and spread consterna- 
tion throughout the great States of Indiana and Ohio. 
Morgan and his men were confined in the Ohio Peniten- 
tiary, and many indignities were heaped upon them ; but 
Morgan and six others made one of the most daring escapes 



SCHOOL HlSrOKY OF THE UNITED STiTES. 321 

on record, and reached the capital of the Confederacy, 
where he had a great ovation given him. 

On April loth, Colonel Abel D. Streight left Nashville 
with 2000 picked men to raid through Tennessee and Ala- 
bama, and capture Rome, Ga., with its important factories 
and large depots of supplies. 

At I o'clock A. M. on the 29th of April, Forrest, with 
about 1000 men, started in pursuit of Streight, and after a 
ride of 150 miles through a mountainous country, and over 
horrible roads — there being a constant fight during the 
latter part of the pursuit — Forrest succeeded in bringing 
up 600 men. and so manoeuvring them as to secure the sur- 
render, at Lawrence, not far from Rome, of Colonel Streight 
and all that remained of his superbly equipped body of 
2000 brave troopers. For this remarkably brilliant exploit 
Forrest and his command received a vote of thanks of the 
Confederate Congress. 

The Battle of Chancellorsville After his disastrous 

failure at Fredericksburg and the termination of another 
attempt to advance in the famous " Mud March," General 
Burnside was so chagrined and disappointed, and so stung 
by the criticisms of some of his subordinates, that he de- 
manded that these men be transferred to other fields, or that 
his own resignation be accepted. The President promptly 
accepted his resignation, and appointed General Joseph 
Hooker (" Fighting Joe," as he was affectionately called by 
his soldiers) to succeed him. General Hooker went dili- 
gently to work, and had so increased the numbers, disci- 
pline, equipment and efficiency of his command that, with 
pardonable pride, he pronounced it " the finest army on the 
planet." The field returns show that his army numbered 
138.378 present on April the 30th, while Lee had 53.303. 

As a preliminary to his movement. Hooker sent 3000 
cavalry, under Averill, across the river at Kelly's Ford, 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF TUB UNITED STATES. 323 

near Culpeper, to drive off the brigade of General Fitz Lee, 
which could only put 800 troopers in the saddle that morn- 
ing. But under their gallant and skillful leader this little 
force not only successfully resisted Averill, but drove him 
back across the river with heavy loss. It was, however, a 
dearly-bought victory for the Confederates, inasmuch as 
" the gallant Pelham " — " the boy artillerist " — who com- 
manded Stuart's Horse Artillery, and was the pride and 
idol of the whole army, was killed leading a cavalry charge. 

Hooker's plan was admirably conceived, and at first well 
executed. Sending Stoneman, with 10,000 cavalry, to Lee's 
rear to break his communications with Richmond, he sent 
Sedgwick across the river at Fredericksburg, on the night 
of April 26, with 52,401 men, while he himself crossed on 
the night of the 28th and morning of the 29th at the upper 
fords, and moved out on Lee's flank with 73,124 men, it be- 
ing designed that Sedgwick should hold Lee at Fredericks- 
burg, while Hooker completed his move to Lee's flank 
and rear. 

General Hooker concentrated his wing of the army at 
Chancellorsville, and issued a congratulatory order, in 
which he said that after the complete success of his move- 
ment the enemy would now be compelled " to ingloriously 
fly, or come out from behind his defenses, and give us battle 
on our own ground, where certain destruction awaits him." 

But he did not know- the genius, or the boldness, of the 
Confederate chief. Leaving Early with his owm division 
and Barksdale's Mississippi brigade to watch and check 
Sedgwick, Lee, with the rest of his army, moved on Hooker 
at Chancellorsville, and, finding him entrenched too 
strongly to be attacked in front or on his left, he sent Stone- 
wall Jackson around his right flank. Hooker, in the mean- 
time, had ordered up Reynolds's corps from Falmouth, and 
when that reached him on the morning of the 3d he had in 



324 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

his very strong position, heavily entrenched, 92,719 men, 
while Lee had 14,000 in Hooker's front and less than 30,000 
in Jackson's flanking column. 

It is useless to speculate as to what might have been had 
Hooker, with the genius and boldness of Napoleon at Aus- 
terlitz, attacked and crushed Lee's 14,000, and then turned 
on Jackson ; but what did occur was that Jackson made his 
detour of fifteen miles so rapidly and so secretly that when, 
at 4:10 p. M. May 2, Hooker dispatched Sedgwick, "We 
know the enemy is flying, trying to save his trains," Jack- 
son, guided by Fitz Lee, who had guarded the marching 
column, was forming liis line of battle on Hooker's right 
and rear, and about to burst like a cyclone upon Howard's 
corps. Howard was routed completely, his men fleeing in 
wild panic, and Jackson was moving to cut off Hooker from 
the United States ford, his only line of retreat, with a view 
of surrounding and capturing his whole army, when, re- 
turning from one of those bold reconnoissances which he 
was accustomed to make, his party was mistaken for the 
Federals, and fired at by his own men, several being in- 
stantly killed and the great chief receiving three severe 
wounds. 

The confusion which ensued from Jackson's fall, and the 
wounding of A. P. Hill, the next in command, delayed any 
further advance of the Confederates that night, and Hooker 
worked until morning with axe and spade to strengthen his 
position. 

But the next morning General Lee said, on hearing of 
Jackson's plans, " These people shall be pressed today," and 
J. E. B. Stuart, who had been put in command of Jackson's 
corps after Hill was disabled, gave the ringing order, 
" Charge and remember Jaekson," and finally leading the 
charge in person, while his voice could be heard above the 
din of the battle, singing in clear notes, " Old Joe Hooker, 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 325 

won't you come out of the Avildcrness? " he swept every- 
thing before him. 

Lee moved forward his Hues at the same time, and by lo 
o'clock on the morning of May the 3d the position at Chan- 
cellorsville had been won, the two wings of Lee's army re- 
united, and Hooker driven to another Hne nearer the river. 
Lee was arranging to attack again when he received news 
that Sedgwick had defeated the small force in his front at 
Fredericksburg and was rapidly advancing on his rear. 

Leaving Stuart with Jackson's corps to watch Hooker, 
Lee, with Anderson's, McLaws's and Early's divisions, 
moved on Sedgwick, routed and drove him across the river, 
and returned on the evening of the 5th, with the purpose of 
finishing Hooker the next morning. But Hooker wisely 
availed himself of the fearful storm that night, and, under 
its cover, fled across the river. 

Lee's loss in the Chancellorsville campaign aggregated 
10,281, Hooker's 17,197. Lee captured 5000 prisoners, be- 
sides the wounded, seventeen stand of colors, 19,500 small- 
arms and a large amount of ammunition. 

But the Confederacy sustained an irreparable loss in the 
death of Stonczuall Jackson, which occurred on the loth of 
May from an attack of pneumonia, which, in his enfeebled 
condition, he could not resist. Jackson was unquestionably 
one of the greatest military geniuses and, at the same time, 
one of the humblest, most devout Christians who ever fig- 
ured in the world's history. Born in Clarksburg, Va., Jan- 
uary 24, 1824, he was not long afterwards left a penniless 
orphan boy, and soon developed traits of self-reliance, en- 
ergy and courage. Entering West Point Military Acad- 
emy, July, 1842, very poorly prepared, he steadily advanced 
in his class, and graduated June 30, 1846. Being made 
second lieutenant of artillery, United States army, he at 
once entered the Mexican war, where he greatly distin- 



326 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, 



guished himself, being repeatedly promoted, until he be- 
came " brevet-major " for " gallantry and skill on the field." 
Soon after the close of the Mexican war, he resigned his 
com.mission in the army to accept a professorship at the 
Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Va. He had made 
a profession of faith in Christ while in Mexico, and. on the 
22d of November, 1851, he united with the Presbyterian 
Church in Lexington. At West Point he had adopted as 
his motto, '' Von may be whatever you resolve to be J' He 
now added this : "' / can do all things through Christ zvhich 
strengthou^th me.'' These mottoes were the secret and 
mainspring of his brilliant career. 

He lived in Lexington the life of a quiet professor, earn- 
estly trying to do his duty, and of an humble, devout, active, 
Christian, meeting every 
obligation as a deacon in 
his church and superin- 
tendent of a negro Sun- 
day-school which he had 
organized. But he 
crowded into the two 
years he served in the 
Confederate army deeds 
which have filled two con- 
tinents with his fame. 
His history for these two ^ 
years may not be detailed 
here, as it would be the,/' 

history for that period of ^/^ > ■^F/T''y//7/7'^''' Jl'^T 

the Army of Northern ^ '^ ''"'J'f^'j^'-' i V 

V irginia. "stonewall" jackson. 

Lee wrote him, when he heard of his wound : " Could I 
have dictated events I should have chosen for the good of 
the country to have been disabled in your stead." 




SCHOOL HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES. 327 

Jackson bore his sufferings and met his deatli with the 
cahn resignation of the Christian hero that he was, and his 
last words were : "Let us cross over the river and rest under the 
shade of the trees." His loss was widely lamented, and 
English admirers presented to Virginia a fine bronze statue 
of him, which now stands in the Capitol Square, Richmond ; 
his friends have placed over his grave in Lexington Valen- 
tine's superb bronze statue ; there has been erected at the 
Virginia Military Institute in his honor the " Jackson 
Memorial Hall" and there are many who believe that had 
Jackson lived the independence of the Confederacy would 
have been established. Certain it is that Lee said, not long 
before his own death : " /f / had had Stonezvall Jackson at 
Gettysburg I should have won a great victory, and a decided 
victory there zvould have established the independence of the 
Confederacy." 

The Gettysburg Campaign and Battle. — The posi- 
tion which Hooker held on Stafford Heights, north of the 
Rappahannock, was naturally a very strong one, and as it 
had been strengthened by engineering skill, and ample 
material, it was not practicable for Lee to assail him there, 
and so he could remain secure as long as he desired, rein- 
forcing, recuperating, and equipping his army until ready 
for another " On to Richmond." 

Lee determined, therefore, to manoeuvre Hooker from his 
position, transfer the war across the Potomac, draw his ra- 
tions from the granaries, barns and smokehouses of Penn- 
sylvania, and, if opportunity offered, strike a blow that 
would give him Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia. 

On the 9th of June, Pleasanton, supported by Infantry, 
attacked Stuart's Cavalry at Fleetwood, below Culpeper, 
and there followed one of the severest cavalry fights of the 
war from early morning to late afternoon, when Pleasanton 
was driven across the river with heavy loss in killed and 



328 HCEOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

wounded, leaving in Stuart's hands about 500 prisoners, 
three pieces of artillery and several colors. 

Having divided his army into three corps under Long- 
street, Ewell, and A. P. Hill, Lee left Hill at Fredericks- 
burg to watch Hooker, and moved Ewell rapidly on to 
Winchester, where, on the 14th of June, he routed Milroy 
and captured 4000 prisoners, twenty-eight pieces of artillery, 
about 400 wagons, a large number of mules and horses and 
immense quantities of small-arms, ordnance, commissary, 
quartermaster and medical stores. Ewell promptly crossed 
the Potomac, and Plooker having moved also, Longstreet 
and A. P. Hill followed. Ewell's corps pushed forward 
until its advance reached York and Wrightsville, and threat- 
ened Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania. 

Hooker asked to be relieved of command, because Gen- 
eral Halleck, the commander-in-chief, interfered with the 
management of his army, and as the authorities at Wash- 
ington were not indisposed to get rid of him, they promptly 
complied v^'ith his request, and assigned to take his place 
General George Gordon Meade, who became the fifth com- 
mander of the Army of the Potomac. This brave and ac- 
complished officer hurried forward his army to concentrate 
against Lee, wdio, his Cavalry vmder Stuart being absent on 
a very successful raid between Meade's army and Washing- 
ton, was not aware for some days of the movements of his 
enemy. 

On the morning of July i. General Heth, of A. P. Hill's 
corps, moved his division towards Gettysburg to procure 
shoes for the many barefooted men of his command, and 
was met first by Buford's Cavalry division and then by 
Reynold's corps of Infantry, and the great battle opened 
without any purpose on the part of either commander to 
fight on that ground. Heth was reinforced by Pender's* 
division of Hill's corps, and later by Rodes's and Early's 




BATTLE 



showing positions held 
JULY 3?PI863. 



= Union Lines. 
" Confederate ••> 

SCAlE OF MILES. 



330 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

divisions of Ewell's corps, wiiile Reynolds was reinforced by 
the nth corps, under Howard, and for six hours the battle 
raged fiercely, the Confederates having 26,000 men engaged 
and the Federals '22,982. The result was that the Federals 
were routed and driven through the streets of Gettysburg 
and over the heights beyond, losing over 5000 prisoners, 
including two general officers, exclusive of their wounded, 
and three pieces of artillery. Their loss in killed and 
wounded was very Heavy, among the former their able and 
brave leader. General Reynolds, whom the general officers 
of the Army of the Potomac pref-erred for commander. 

General Lee reached the field at 2 :30 p. m. and ordered 
General Ewell to press forward and occupy the heights ; 
but as Ewell was beginning to execute the order he was 
halted by a report, which proved false, that the enemy was 
moving on his rear. 

General Meade concentrated on Cemetery Ridge that 
night, but his troops did not all reach that point until the 
next afternoon, and if General Lee's orders for an early at- 
tack the next morning had been obeyed victory would have 
again perched upon his banners. But the attack was not 
made until 4 130 p. m., after Meade's troops were up and 
rested. Longstreet made a superb fight and gained some 
advantages, but failed in the main object of the attack. 
Ewell captured a portion of the works in his front. 

The object to be attained — the crushing of Meade's army 
and the opening of tlic roads to Washington aiid Baltimore 
— were so important, and Lee had such confidence in his 
splendid army (the heroes of the Seven Days around Rich- 
mond, Second Manassas, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg and 
Chancellorsville) that he determined to attack again on the 
early morning of the 3d with his whole army. But there 
was another delay ; the Confederate artillery did not open 
until I P. M., the charge was not made until 3 130 p. m., and 



332 SCHOOL UWTOliY OF TUB UNITED STATES. 

instead of being a concerted attack of Lee's whole army it 
was made by Pickett's division of three brigades, Hcth's 
division under Pettigrew, and two brigades of Pender's 
division under Trimble, numbering in all scarcely 14,000 
men in the assaulting forces. 

This charge, for heroic daring, splendid dash and stern 
endurance, has few equals and no superior in history. For 
1300 or 1400 yards, nearly every foot under a concentrated 
and converging fire of artillery, these heroes in gray 
marched with steady lines to attack an army of nearly 
100,000 men, in a strong position, heavily fortified. 

Pickett's Virginians captured the outer works, and 
turned the guns on the enemy ; the other brave troops did 
their duty as heroically and as well ; but they were not sup- 
ported ; the rest of the army looked on, admired, and v/on- 
dered, and the Confederates were driven back by the 
overwhelming numbers concentrated against them. 

Their loss was fearful ; of Pickett's three brigadiers, Gar- 
nett and Armistead were killed and Kemper terribly 
wounded, while many others of the bravest and best of the 
division, and of Heth's division, and of the two brigades of 
Pender were killed, wounded, or taken prisoners. 

Witnessing the failure of the attack from his position in 
the centre of the army, Lee galloped to the front and was 
soon moving among his shattered battalions as they re- 
coiled from their brave endeavor, and restoring order by 
the magic influence of his presence, and kindly words. 
While he knew, and the calm verdict of the historian must 
be, that the defeat had been due to failure to carry out his 
orders, yet, with a selT-abnegation which rises to the sub- 
lime, he calmly said : " litis is all my fault. I have lost this 
battle, and yoit must help mc out of it the best zvay you can.'' 

Lee had at Gettysburg, of all arms, 60,000 men ; Meade, 
105.000. Lee's total loss in killed, wounded and missing 



SCHOOL UWTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 333 

was 20,451 ; Meade's total loss was 23,003. In Meade's 
army four general officers — Reynolds, Vincent, Weed and 
Zook — were killed, and thirteen — Hancock, Sickles, Gib- 
bon, Warren, Butterfield, Barlow, Doubleday, Paul, Brook, 
Barnes, Webb, Stanard and Graham — were wounded ; in 
Lee's army, five general officers — Pender, Garnett, Armis- 
tcad, Barksdale, and Semmes — were killed, and nine — 
Hood, Hampton, Heth, J. M. Jones, G. T. Anderson, Kem- 
per, Scales and Jenkins — were wounded. These losses 
tell the story of the terrific fighting of those three days in 
July. Lee remained in line of battle all day, July the 4th, 
inviting an attack from Meade, but that night he moved 
back to the Potomac, where Meade did not venture to fol- 
low him until six days afterwards. Lee's pontoons had 
been destroyed, the rains had rendered the river past ford- 
ing, and he was there in line of battle awaiting the attack of 
Meade, which Halleck and President Lincoln were urging, 
and for which the Northern newspapers were clamoring. 
But Meade was too good a soldier to yield to this pressure ; 
and on the 13th of July, the waters having subsided, Lee 
crossed the Potomac without serious molestation or loss. 

Early in August, Lee held the line of the Rapidan in 
Orange county, Virginia, and Meade was in Culpeper, and 
the two armies occupied these positions until the next 
spring, except that in October Lee advanced, and forced 
Meade back to the fortifications in front of Washington, 
and the latter part of November Meade crossed the Rapi- 
dan to attack Lee, but finding him strongly posted at Mine 
Run, fell back in the night and thus avoided the attack 
which Lee had decided to make on him early the next 
morning. 

Religious Interest in Lee's Army While Lee's 

army was resting along the line of the Rapidan, there began 
a series of revivals which swept through the army, until 



334 SCHOOL UISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

well-nigh every camp was vocal with God's praises. There 
had 'been from the beginning a decided religious interest in 
the army ; the large number of earnest Christians among 
leading officers, such as R. E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, J. E. 
B. Stuart, Ewell (who professed conversion during the win- 
ter of 1862), W. N. Pendleton, T. R. Cobb, Pender, Scales, 
Colquitt, J. B. Gordon, Evans, Battle, and a number of 
others ; the very large element of pious men among the 
rank and file ; the faithful labors of chaplains and mission- 
aries ; the distribution of Bibles and religious books and 
tracts ; the earnest appeals and prayers of friends at home — • 
all had their effect, and after the first Maryland campaign, 
there were revivals of deep interest and gratifying results. 

But soon after the army went into camp along the Rapi- 
dan, in August, 1863, there began a revival which reached 
nearly every regiment, and did not cease until the surrender 
at Appomattox. As one result of this, over 15,000 of Lee's 
soldiers professed faith in Christ and enlisted under the 
banner of the cross. 

There were similar revivals in the other armies of the 
Confederacy, in the hospitals and in the Northern prisons, 
and it is confidently believed that in no armies in the 
world's history has there been so much of evangelical re- 
ligion, genuine piety, or active effort for the salvation of 
others. 

West Virginia Admitted During this year West 

Virginia, which had been formed by dividing'the old State, 
without the shadow of law, justice or right, save that of the 
sword, was admitted into the Union as a new State. Con- 
sidering the fact that old Virginia had given to the Union, 
without asking compensation, the Northwest Territory, out 
of which five States had been carved, and on the condition 
that her territory should not again be abridged without her 
consent, this partition of her territory was all the more rep- 



336 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

rehensible, and can be justified on no ground save the plea 
of despotism that '' Might makes right.'" 

Operations in Charleston Harbor. — The defenses of 
the harbor of Charleston, planned by General R. E. Lee in 
the latter part of iSBi, and erected under the superintend- 
ence of that most accomplished engineer, Colonel D. B. 
Harris, fully justified the reputation of the able engineers 
who designed them, and the defense made by Beauregard 
and others was one of the most heroic and successful on 
record. 

April 7th of this year Admiral Dupont made an attack on 
Sumter with a powerful fleet of ironclads, but met a disas- 
trous repulse, the Keokuk being sunk and nearly all of his 
vessels seriously injured. General Gillmore landed on 
Morris Island, and, after two bloody repulses, finally suc- 
ceeded in capturing Battery Wagner. 

From this vantage ground the siege of Charleston was 
prosecuted with vigor. A gun called " The Swamp Angel " 
threw shot and shell into the city a distance of five miles ; 
Sumter was battered into a mass of ruins, but the skill of 
the engineer. Major John Johnson, converted the ruins into 
a stronger fortress than before ; every assault was repulsed, 
and the Confederate flag continued to wave over Sumter 
and Charleston until the spring of 1865, when Sherman's 
march in their rear compelled their evacuation. 

Results of the Third Year of the War. — The Fed- 
erals had captured Vicksburg and Port Hudson giving 
them full control of the Mississippi, and had overrun vast 
regions of country. They had won important battles be- 
fore Vicksburg, and at Chattanooga, and had won a great 
victory in defeating Lee's attacks on the heights of Gettys- 
burg. 

The Confederates had won great victories at Chancellors- 
ville, Winchester, the first day of Gettysburg, and at Chick- 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 337 

amauga, had captured Galveston, and had defeated every 
attack on Charleston. 

England and France were about to recognize the inde- 
pendence of the Confederacy, when the news of the capture 
of Vicksburg and of Lee's defeat at Gettysburg reached 
them, and postponed indefinitely what would have inevit- 
ably resulted in the complete success of the Confederacy. 
It has been well said that " the Confederacy was within a 
stone's throw of independence at Gettysburg." 

Questions. — What can you tell about President Lincoln's eman- 
cipation proclamation? Give an account of General Magruder's 
success at Galveston. What efforts were made by General Grant 
to capture Vicksburg? What is said of its surrender? Sabine Pass? 
Show how General Thomas gained the name of the " Rock of 
Chickamauga." Describe the battle of Chattanooga. Give an ac- 
count of the capture of Missionary Ridge. Explain how the siege 
of Knoxville was raised. Morgan's Raid and its result. Death of 
the " gallant Pelham." What of the death of Stonewall Jackson? 
Sketch his career. What steps were now taken in the way of a 
Confederate invasion of the North? Narrate the movements pre- 
liminary to the battle of Gettysburg. Give an account of the first 
day of the battle. Of the second day. Give a careful account of 
the charge on the third day. Admission of West Virginia as a 
State and by what right. Operations in Charleston harbor. What 
were the results of the third year of the war? 



338 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

CHAPTER XXX. 

FOURTH YEAR OF THE WAR, 1864. 

Grant Made Lieutenant=GeneraI General Grant 

had become the foremost general of the Federal armies. 
His campaigns and successes proved that he possessed 
high qualities as a general when backed by numbers and re- 
sources. On the 2d of March, 1864, he was made Lieuten- 
ant-General, and President Lincoln personally handed him 
his commission on the 19th to a rank previously held by 
only Washington and Scott. Henceforth all the military 
movements of the Federals were to be under the direction 
of Grant. 

The Great Task — -The Mississippi had been opened, 
the Confederacy severed and the blockade rigorously main- 
tained. The South had all her available men in the field, 
and the losses of war could not be replaced. But two of 
her powerful armies were still under the command of skilled 
leaders : one was the peerless Army of Northern Virginia, 
led by the matchless Lee, and the other the noble army 
commanded by that able soldier, Joseph E. Johnston in 
Georgia. Until these were conquered the Confederacy 
could not be overthrown. To General Sherman was as- 
signed the task of overcoming Johnston, while Grant en- 
tered the lists against Lee. 

Sherman's Campaign We will first follow the cam- 
paign of General Sherman in the South. At the head of an 
army of 150,000 men, he marched against Johnston, who 
was at Dalton, with a force of 42,754. Now began a series 
of skilled manoeuvres, extending over more than a hundred 
miles. After Johnston had assumed a strong position, 
Sherman would hold his front with a force equal to Johns- 




^ Map OF THE 

Country from Dalton to Atlanta 

ATLANTA CAMPAIGN. 



340 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

ton's whole army, and flank him with a large colimm. Then 
the Confederate general would fall back, thus drawing his 
opponent further from his base of supplies. The conflicts 
were numerous, the principal being at Dalton, Resaca, and 
Lost, and Kenesaw mountain. At the last-named point 
Sherman received a severe repulse and suffered great loss. 
Finally, on the loth of July, Johnston, without giving the 
general battle which the government and people were ex- 
pecting, withdrew into the entrenchments of Atlanta. 

Capture of Atlanta — Johnston's retreat from Dalton 
to Atlanta had been ably and skillfully conducted, and had 
unquestionably inflicted far more loss on the Federals than 
he had received. 

But soon after the army reached Atlanta the general 
clamor against the " Fabian Policy " of the able soldier be- 
came so great that President Davis at last yielded to the 
popular demand, and issued an order removing General 
Johnston from the command and appointing General John 
B. Hood to succeed him. 

General Hood was a gallant soldier, a true patriot, but he 
was doubtful of his ability to command that army, espe- 
cially under the circumstances, and begged General Johns- 
ton to remain with him as his " military adviser ; " but 
General Johnston went to Macon, and Hood, left to his own 
judgment, made three vigorous attacks on Sherman's lines, 
July 20, 22 and 28, and while his troops fought as gallantly 
as men ever fought under any flag, he met a disastrous de- 
feat, losing very heavily, the gallant General W. H. T. 
Walker being among the killed. Hood was compelled to 
evacuate the city September the 2d, the Federals taking 
immediate possession. 

In one of these battles the Federals sustained a great 
loss in the death of that bold and accomplished officer, 
General McPherson. 



342 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The Result. — • Sherman now held the granary of the 
Southern Confederacy, where for the first time a hostile 
foot trod. At Atlanta, Rome and other towns in the neigh- 
borhood were foundries, manufactories and mills, which 
furnished supplies, clothing and ammunition for the Con- 
federate armies. This indispensable source of supply was 
henceforth closed to the South. 

End of the War in the West Sherman's desire to 

march directly through the Confederacy to the Atlantic 
coast could not be carried out so long as Forrest's cavalry 
was raiding along his railway communication, and Hood 
and his army threatened him in front. With the purpose of 
forcing Sherman back into Tennessee, Hood marched 
north to cut his communications. But General George H. 
Thomas organized an army much larger than Hood's to 
meet his advance and allow Sherman to start on his pro- 
posed " march to the sea." After many marches, man- 
oeuvres and skirmishes, Hood attacked Schofield in a very 
strong position at Franklin, Tenn., and there ensued one of 
the bloodiest battles of the war. Schofield was driven from 
his position with heavy loss, but the Confederate loss was 
fearful, and among the killed was that gifted and gallant 
soldier, General Pat Cleburne, who had done so much to 
add lustre to tl;e glories of the '' Army of Tennessee," and 
who fell on its last victorious field. Schofield retreated to 
Nashville, where General Thomas took command. Two 
weeks passed, during which nothing was done on either 
side. Hood waited for reinforcements, which never came. 
General Grant grew impatient with Thomas, and sent him 
urgent orders to move. Thomas waited till his preparations 
were complete, when he sallied out and fell upon Hood with 
greatly superior numbers, guns and equipment, and with 
irresistible fury. 

The Confederates fought bravely, but they were driven 




I^HA J G^rj_Gj1 DOD Gf O^ 



GEIN.THOriAS on PAG[ 281 
WftS ALSOirt^CAnPAIGN. 



6En JOS HOOKER OM PAGE 301 
COnnANDEO CORPS. 



344 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

from their lines with great slaughter, and considerable de- 
moralization ensued. The pursuit of Thomas was skillful 
and vigorous, and only the heroic skill and sleepless vigi- 
lance with which Lieutenant-General N. B. P"orrest, Lieu- 
tenant-General S. D. Lee, and General E. C. Walthall, who 
brought up the rear, covered the retreat, saved the remnant 
of Hood's army from annihilation. 

Hood was relieved from command at his own repeated 
request, and the remnant of his army was finally ordered to 
report to General J. E. Johnston, in North Carolina. 

The campaign of General Thomas was ably planned, and 
admirably executed, and its brilliant success came barely in 
time to save his official head from the guillotine at Wash- 
ington, and win for him wide reputation as one of the best 
soldiers whom the war produced. This campaign virtually 
closed military operations in Tennessee. 

Sherman's March to the Sea It will thus be seen 

that Hood's march into Tennessee not only failed to draw 
Sherman after him, but cleared from the path of the Federal 
commander the only obstacle to his advance straight 
through the Confederacy. He did not hesitate. Setting 
fire to the city of Atlanta, a most unjustifiable act of vandal- 
ism, and forcing her citizens from their homes, he cut loose 
from his communications, November i6, and started for the 
Atlantic coast. 

He made his path one of desolation. Railways were de- 
stroyed right and left, dwellings plundered, and ruthlessly 
burned, while the 60,000 men drew their " supplies " from 
the country through which they passed, demolishing what 
they could not use. No force could be gathered strong 
enough to interpose serious resistance to the mighty host, 
to whom the march of 300 miles was a month's picnic. 
During all this time ro news from Sherman reached the 
North, and much anxiety was felt for him and his army. 



346 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The first tidings were that he had arrived at Savannah. 
That city was occupied December 21, after its evacuation 
by General Hardee, and on Christmas Eve President Lin- 
coln received a telegram from Sherman, presenting it to 
him " as a Christmas gift." 

As a military movement, this march of Sherman's dis- 
played neither especial genius in planning, nor skill in exe- 
cuting. General Lee once said of it : " We had nothing to 
oppose Sherman, and his march through Georgia was based 
simply on a mathematical calculation whether his army 
could live on the country by taking all the provisions the 
people had:' For the rest, those who sing " Marching 
through Georgia " forget that the pillage and burning of 
private houses and the wanton outrages and insults heaped 
upon old men, women and children along the track of that 
army were a blot upon the American name and upon the 
civilization of the nineteenth century, and such a blot as all 
lovers of our country should seek to commit to oblivion. 

In his official report of this march. General Sherman says : 
" I estimate the damage done to the State of Georgia and 
its military resources at one hundred millions of dollars; at 
least tzvcnty millions of zvhich have inured to our advantage, 
and the remainder is simply waste and destruction.'' In other 
words, he used for his army property valued at tzvcnty 
millions, and ruthlessly and cruelly destroyed eighty millions 
more. 

The Kilpatrick=Dahlgren Raid In March, 1864, 

General Kilpatrick, with 4000 cavalry, attempted to ride by 
Lee's flank and dash into Richmond before reinforcements 
could reach it. The raid proved a failure, and is notable 
chiefly from the fact that there were found on the person of 
the leader of one of the columns, Colonel Ulric Dahlgren, 
who was killed and most of his command captured, papers 
indicating a purpose to turn loose the prisoners who were 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 347 

to be released, to burn and sack Richmond and kill Jeffer- 
son Davis and his cabinet. The authenticity of those papers 
was afterwards denied, but the proofs of their genuineness 
are overwhelming. 

The Confederate Government threatened to retaliate, but 
both General Meade and the authorities at Washington de- 
nied all knowledge of such papers, and Dahlgren's of^cers 
and men were, therefore, treated as other prisoners. 

Grant's Campaign Against Richmond With the 

resources of the government at his back, Grant determined 
to capture Richmond by a combined movement, which 
seemed irresistible. A column moving through the moun- 
tain passes of Southwest Virginia, one up the valley of the 
Shenandoah, one from the Atlantic seaboard by way of 
James river, and his own from the Rapidan were to con- 
verge on, overwhelm and capture Richmond by the early 
summer. These columns, including reinforcements sent 
during the campaign, numbered more than 275,000 men 
ecpiipped in the most superb manner, and supplied abund- 
antly with provisions and with stores of every description. 

To meet this mighty host. General Lee had, including 
every man he could draw as reinforcements during the cam- 
paign, not more than 75,000 men, badly armed, wretchedly 
equipped, and very poorly supplied with rations, clothing, 
ordnance stores, transportation — in fact, needing every- 
thing necessary to the ef^ciency of an army save able lead- 
ership, stout hearts, and indomitable patriotism. 

The army inmiediately opposed to Lee's numbered, when 
it crossed the Rapidan on May 4, 1864, 149,166 men, while 
Lee had within call 62,000 men ; but with only half that 
number he moved on and attacked Grant's army in " The 
W^ilderness." 

Battle of the Wilderness. — As soon as Grant be- 
gan to cross the Rapidan, Lee, instead of retreating before 



348 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

the mighty host, moved down from Orange and attacked 
him in the Wilderness, where, from the 5th to the 7th of 
May, the terrible battle raged and with fearful slaughter, 
Grant losing 17,666 men, and Lee half that number. 

But the result fully convinced the Federal commander 
that he could not destroy Lee's army or drive it from its 
position on that ground, which had proven again, as at 
Chancellorsville, a " shadow of death " to the Federals ; and 
the advantage being so decidedly with the Confederates, 
Grant determined to move off by Lee's right flank that 
night and seize the strong strategic position at Spottsyl- 
vania Court House. But Lee divined his purpose, as if by 
intuition, and when the head of Grant's column came near 
the coveted point the advance of the Army of Northern 
Virginia barred the way. 

Spottsylvania Court House. — -Both sides entrenched 
their lines as best they could, though the Federals were well 
provided with entrenching tools of every description, and 
had a strong pioneer corps, while the Confederates had to 
use bayonets, tin cups and sharpened sticks as their chief 
" entrenching tools," and the work had to be done entirely 
by the soldiers themselves; so that Grant's lines here, as 
everywhere else on the campaign, were much stronger than 
those of Lee. 

For five days Grant repeatedly assaulted Lee's position 
at different points, and Was badly defeated. But on the 
early morning of the 12th, " Hancock the sup-erb " carried 
a salient by assault, captured between 3000 and 4000 pris- 
oners, among tliem General Edward Johnson, and twenty 
pieces of artillery, and seemed about to cut Lee's army in 
two. But the Confederates rallied, and, under the immedi- 
ate eye of Lee himself, drove back the blue wave to " the 
bloody angle," where the fight raged until after dark so 
fiercely that large trees were cut down by minie balls, and 



350 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

the slaughter was fearful. Lee recovered all of his line 
except " the toe of the horseshoe," a new line was formed 
just in the rear of this, and the Confederates continued to 
hold their lines so stoutly that Grant, although he had re- 
ceived large reinforcements, deemed it unwise to make 
another assault, and on the 20th moved by Lee's right to 
Hanover Junction, only to find Lee again in his path. 

Grant lost at Spottsylvania Court House 18,399, making 
a total loss of 40,000 in his two weeks' campaign, or about 
two thirds as many men as Lee had. 

Sheridan's Raid. — On the 9th of May, Grant sent 
Sheridan, with 10,000 cavalry, splendidly mounted and 
equipped, to' break Lee's communication, intercept him (if 
Grant should crush him at Spottsylvania Court House), 
and, if opportunity offered, to dash into Richmond. Stuart 
had available to oppose this splendid body of troopers only 
three small brigades, numbering about 3000, but he boldly 
planted himself across Sheridan's path at Yellow Tavern, 
six miles from Richmond, where, on May 11, he made a 
heroic fight, which checked Sheridan until local troops 
could be gotten into the trenches and Richmond saved. 
But, alas ! the " Flower of Cavaliers " fell at the head of his 
gallant troopers mortally wounded, and died the next day 
in Richmond, deeply mourned by the Confederacy. 

General John Sedgwick, one of the ablest soldiers of the 
Army of the Potomac, whose fall at Spottsylvania was so 
w^idely lamented, once said, " Stuart is the best cavalry sol- 
dier ever born in America," and that is the opinion of many 
who have studied his campaigns. But v.'hile an ideal cav- 
alryman, he was a man of unsullied character and temperate 
habits. He never used tobacco, or drank even a glass of 
wine, and, above all, was an humble, earnest Christian. 

Cold Harbor. — Lee not only checkmated Grant at Han- 
over Junction, situated on the North Anna river, at the 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 351 

junction of the railroad from Richmond to Fredericksburg, 
and the Central (now Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad) from 
Richmond to the Valley of Virginia, but thrust himself in 
between two wings of his army, and was about to give him 
a crushing blow, when the Federal commander hastily with- 
drew and moved 'by his left flank on Cold Harbor, only to 
find that Lee had again detected his plans and was across 
his road to Richmond. There was considerable preliminary 
fighting along the Cold Harbor lines, but on the 3d of June, 
Grant, having received large reinforcements, made a deter- 
mined assault on the Confederate position and received one 
of the bloodiest repulses of the war. 

The loss of the Confederates was about 750; they were 
elated at their brilliant success, and the morale of Lee's 
army was never better than just after Cold Harbor, where 
Lee occupied the positions from which he had driven 
McClellan in June, 1862, two years before. 

Other Operations of the Campaign In the Valley 

of Virginia, Sigel moved as far as New Market, where, on 
the 15th of May, Breckinridge defeated his 6500 men with 
only 5000, and compelled him to retreat down the Valley. 
In this battle the Cadets of the Virginia Military Institute 
greatly distinguished themselves. 

General Butler, with an army of over 30,000 men, was to 
have captured Petersburg, "the back door of Richmond," 
before Grant reached the front of Richmond. But he was 
driven back by Beauregard on the i6th of May to Bermuda 
Hundred and effectually " bottled up," as General Grant 
expressed it, sending a good part of his troops later to share 
in Grant's defeat at Cold Flarbor. General David Hunter 
succeeded Siegel in the command, and moved up the \"alley 
again. He was joined by Crook and Averill from South- 
west Virginia, and defeated General W. E. Jones (Brecken- 
ridge having gone to join Lee) at Piedmont. He advanced 



352 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

via Staunton and Lexington on Lynchburg, laying waste 
the country through which he passed, and burning the 
Virginia MiHtary Institute and Governor Letcher's private 
residence at Lexington. Grant sent Sheridan with 10,000 
cavalry, to meet and escort Hunter to Richmond, but 
Hampton and Fitz Lee met him at Trevilian's, in Louisa 
county, with half his numbers, defeated him very decidedly, 
and compelled him to fall back to Grant's lines, leaving his 
dead and wounded and many spoils of victory in the hands 
of the Confederates. Hunter's move on Lynchburg com- 
pelled Lee, though he could not well spare them, to detach 
Breckinridge and Ewell's corps, under Early, to meet him. 

Early drove Hunter from Lynchburg on a disastrous re- 
treat through the mountains of Virginia, and then rapidly 
moved down the Valley of Virginia to cross the Potomac 
and threaten Washington. 

The Results of the Campaign — In sixty days Grant's 
campaign against Richmond, despite his boast at Spottsyl- 
vania that he would " fight it out on this line if it took all 
of the summer," had dwindled to a siege of Petersburg 
(nine miles from deep water) by the main column under 
Grant, which had lost about 70,000 men — more than Lee 
had — in order to get a position which it might have 
reached at first without firing a shot or losing a man. 

Butler's column was mingled with Grant's in the lines 
before Petersburg, the other Federal columns which had 
begun the campaign in the Valley and Soutliwest Virginia 
were in disorderly retreat through the mountains to the 
Kanawha valley, out of the area of active operations, and 
Lee had made his lines impregnable to direct assault, and 
had a movable column within two days' march of the Fed- 
eral capital. 

There is strong evidence that Mr. Lincoln was so affected 
by the result of this campaign that he was in favor of open- 



354 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

ing peace negotiations with the Confederates ; that steps to 
that end were really taken, and that they were arrested only 
by tidings of Federal success in the West. 

The Siege of Petersburg Having lost 70,000 men to 

Lee's 18,000 in his overland campaign against Richmond, 
and having been taught so impressively that he could not- 
force Lee's lines in front of Richmond, Grant had nothmg 
left him but to try to " steal in at the back door," by a 
sudden march on Petersburg before Lee could get there. 

But the first attack was defeated by the old men and the 
boys of the gallant " Cockade City." General Beauregard 
collected a handful of troops, which heroically and success- 
fully resisted other assaults, and by the time Grant's main 
army reached the lines of the city's defense, Lee's veterans 
were in position, and it was impossible to carry the works 
by direct assault. There followed the siege of Petersburg, 
which lasted ten months, and during this time Grant added 
to his " attrition " tactics of wearing Lee's army away by 
constant attacks the policy of cutting ofi his supplies. 

There were a number of brilliant afifairs, such as the re- 
capture of the Confederate lines after the explosion of the 
Federal mine, which made the famous "Crater" on July 
30: many brilliant sorties on the Federals near the Weldon 
Railroad ; A. P. Flill's handsome victory over Hancock at 
Reams's Station on August 25, and some brilliant successes 
of the cavalry under Hampton. 

Early's Valley Campaign Crossing the Potomac on 

the 6th of July, Early defeated General Lew Wallace at 
Monocacy on the 9th, and arrived in front of the works at 
Washington at noon on July 11 with about 10.000 men and 
forty pieces of artillery, intending to make an assault at day- 
light the next morning. But learning that night of the ar- 
rival of the 19th corps from New Orleans, and the 6th corps 
from the Army of the Potomac, Early countermanded the 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 355 

order, remained in front of Washington during the 12th, 
and that niglit withdrew and niarclicd l)ack to the Valley of 
Virginia, reaching Strasburg on the 22d. 

Early remained in the Valley as a sort of " forlorn hope " 
to threaten Washington, Maryland and Pennsylvania, draw 
supplies from that fertile region, and hold as large a force 
as possible of the enemy who would, otherwise, operate 
against Lee at Richmond and Petersburg. 

On the 7th of August, General Phil Sheridan was put in 
command of the Valley District, and allowed Early to hold 
him in check until the 19th of September. Having in- 
creased his army to 62,740, he attacked Early's 11,400 at 
Winchester that day, and, after a most stubborn fight, in 
which Sheridan's Infantry were defeated and were actually 
beginning to retreat, he sent his splendid body of 10,000 
Cavalry to Early's rear, and thus forced his retreat, with a 
loss of about 4000 — Sheridan's loss being 5000, of which 
nearly 4400 were killed and wounded. Early was again 
defeated at Fisher's Hill on the 22d of September, and 
moved back to Port Republic, but being reinforced there 
by Kershaw's division of Infantry, Cutshaw's battalion of 
Artillery, and later on Rosser's brigade of Cavalry, he as- 
sumed the offensive, and again moved down the Valley to 
Fisher's Hill. 

On the 19th of October, before daybreak, Early attacked 
and routed Sheridan's command on Cedar Creek, but, un- 
fortunately, the victory was not vigorously pushed. Gen- 
eral Wright, of the 6th corps, rallied the troops, and, on 
Sheridan's return from Winchester, where he was in the 
morning, he ordered forward his whole line, and Early sus- 
tained a disastrous defeat at the hands of the overwhelming 
force, which attacked him in Hank, when his troops were 
scattered by the fight of the morning and by the rich 



35G SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

plunder of the Federal eanips, which his ragged, barefooted, 
hungry men could not resist. 

Early lost twenty-three pieces of artillery, i860 killed and 
wounded and over 1000 prisoners. Sheridan's loss was also 
very heavy. General Early retired up the Valley, but was 
not pursued by the Federals, and he soon moved down 
the A'alley again and offered Sheridan battle on the old 
ground, which, being declined, the Federal commander pre- 
ferring to stay behind his strong entrenchments near Win- 
chester, Early again retired to the upper Valley, from which 
he sent out several cavalry raids. 

" Mosby's Confederacy." — Col. John S. Mosby, who 
had rendered valuable service to Gen. Lee as a daring and 
successful scout, had been authorized by the Confederate 
Congress to organize a Battalion of Partisan Rangers to 
operate within the Federal lines in Northern Virginia, and 
during 1863-64 he had gathered about 1000 brave, and de- 
termined men, who were a source of constant annoyance 
to the Federals by their bold, and successful attacks on 
supply trains, foraging trains, outposts, and detached par- 
ties, and sometimes by heroic, and successful battle with 
superior forces. Mosby's operations were verv valuable 
in capturing immense quantities of supplies, and large num- 
bers of prisoners, and in sending out cattle, horses, wagons, 
and other valuable material. 

He compelled the Federal authorities to employ a large 
force to watch him, and guard aga»inst his raids, and while 
they called his command " Bushwhacke<-s," and other ugly 
names, Mosby made them recognize him as a regularly 
commissioned Confederate ofificer, commanding regularly 
enlisted Confederate troops, and " Lord of the Manor " in 
the region of Northtsrn Virginia known as " Mosby's Con- 
federacy." 

The campaign in the Valley seeming to be closed, Sheri- 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 357 

dan sent the greater part of his Infantry to Grant, and Early 
returned to Lee Kershaw's division, and, the last of Novem- 
ber, the old 2d Corps, now commanded by General John B. 
Gordon. There were no further operations during the year, 
except some Cavalry movements. Early's campaign had 
resulted in driving Hunter from Lynchburg, invading 
Maryland and Pennsylvania, and threatening Washington, 
keeping about 60,000 Federal troops in the Valley and as 
many around Washington, which might otherwise have 
been used against Lee, inflicting upon the enemy a loss 
nearly double his own numbers, feeding his own army on 
the country and sending supplies to General Lee, and, while 
sufifermg serious disasters and losses from the overwhelm- 
ing numbers opposed to him, holding his ground with an 
indomitable courage and perseverance which showed him 
to be a soldier of real ability and unyielding pluck. 

With the force under his command, Sheridan ought to 
have utterly annihilated Early in the summer or early au- 
tumn. His failure to do so (added to his cruel ordeis to 
burn private houses, barns, mills, crops, etc., until he made 
his wicked boast that he had so desolated the Valley that " a 
crow flying over would have to carry his own rations ") 
very materially withered the laurels he had won. 

Bank's Red River Campaign One of the utter 

failures of the war was a naval and land expedition under 
Gen. N. P. Banks, undertaken in the spring of 1864. 

General Banks essayed to conquer Texas and Louisiana . 
but his chief object was the immense lot of cotton in that 
region. Ascending the Red river, he captured Fort de 
Russy, March 14, and then advanced upon Shreveport. 
He had an army of 30,000 men. At Mansfield the battle of 
San Jacinto was repeated almost in detail. Like Santa 
Anna, Banks had his troops strung along for a distance of 
many miles, without a thought of danger, when General 



358 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Richard Taylor, son of ex-President Taylor, attacked, with 
relentless impetuosity, just as Houston did a quarter of a 
century before. The demoralization and rout of the Fed- 
erals were as complete as those of the Mexicans in 1836. 
They were sent flying in great confusion, April 8, but were 
finally rallied at Pleasant Hill, where they were again routed 
on the following day by Taylor, who drove them out of the 
State. Banks made his way back to New Orleans, and 
was relieved of his command. 

Admiral Porter, in command of the gunboats on the Red 
river, narrowly escaped a fate as disastrous as that of 
Banks. Learning of the retreat of the land forces. Porter 
attempted to descend the river with his fleet, but the water 
fell so rapidly that this became impossible. To prevent the 
boats falling into the liands of the Confederates, he pre- 
pared to blow them up. In this crisis. Colonel Joseph 
Bailey, of Winconsin, directed the construction of a series 
of wing dams, which raised the river sufficiently to float the 
boats beyond danger. This was the only creditable incident 
in what was, after all, no more than a gigantic cotton specu- 
lation, which would have enriched a few men, but for the 
vigorous interference of General Taylor. After these bril- 
liant victories, General Kirby Smith, in command of the 
Trans-Mississippi Department, moved across Northwestern 
Louisiana, and forced General Steele to retreat to Little 
Rock. 

From August 28th to December 3d of this year, General 
SfcrUng Priee (" Old Pap " his soldiers afi^ectionately called 
him) made an expedition through Northern Arkansas, and 
Eastern Missouri. He threatened St. Louis and JefYerson 
City, and returned through Western Missouri, Kansas, and 
the Indian Territory. On this expedition he fought forty- 
three battles and skirmishes, captured several thousand 



SCHOOL HISTOliY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



359 



prisoners, secured iniinensc quantities of supplies, and de- 
stroyed property valued at $10,000,000. 

Admiral Farragut in Mobile Bay. — Although the 
blockade was maintained with great stringency, the vast ex- 
tent of sea coast prevented its being effective at all points. 
From Wilmington, Mobile and other places the daring 
blockade-runners darted in and out during the darkness, 
and carried on a lucrative trade. At 
Mobile there was good reason to 
■^r-ry believe the Con- 
"" federates would 




succeed in raising 

the blockade with 

the aid of the ironclads they had well 

under way. Accordingly, Admiral 

Farragut, August 5, entered the bay wnth his fleet. He 

stationed himself in the rigging of the Hartford, fought his 

way past the forts, and engaged the ironclads in a furious 

battle. The formidable ram Tennessee was captured and 

the other vessels taken or driven up stream. The forts 

v/ere reduced, but the city of Mobile was not captured until 

the following year. The Federal troops entered the city 

April 12, unaware that General Lee had surrendered three 

days before. 

Destruction of the Alabama The few Confederate 

corvettes succeeded in driving Federal commerce from the 



3fiO 



SCHOOL lUFiTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



ocean. These daring cruisers penetrated the remote seas, 
some of them playing havoc with the whahng fleets in the 
icy regions of the far North. The most famous commander 
was Captain Raphael Semmes, who began his work of de- 
struction in 1 86 1, in command of the Sumter. He was 




blockaded in the port of Gibraltar, when he sold his vessel, 
made his way to England and secured the Alabama. 

In charge of this noted cruiser, Captain Semmes de- 
stroyed millions of dollars' worth of Northern shipping and 
sank the Haitcras ofif Galveston. When he had taken more 
than three-score merchant ships, he entered the harbor of 
Cherbourg, France. The Federal Kcarsargc (keer'sarj) ap- 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE VJ^'ITED STATES. 361 

pearing, Semnics challenged her commander, Captain 
Winslow, to fight him. The challenge was accepted, and 
the naval battle took place Sunday, June 19. Thousands of 
people gathered on the shore to witness the conflict. 

The two vessels steamed around a common centre, firing 
at each other from a distance of a quarter or half a mile. 
Captain Winslow had suspended heavy chains over the 
sides of the Kcarsargc, and concealed them with planks. 
These virtually made the vessel an ironclad, impervious to 
the cannon shot of the Alabama. Seven times the antago- 
nists circled about each other, firing continuously, and had 
begun the eighth circuit when Captain Semmes, seeing that 
the Alabama was sinking, headed for French waters. Cap- 
tain Winslow followed, and Semmes ran up a signal of dis- 
tress. Just before his vessel went down, Semmes flung his 
sword overboard and leaped into the ocean with his ofificers 
and men. He and a number were picked up by an English 
yacht cruising near, and the rest were rescued by the boats 
of the Kcarsargc. The Kcarsargc foundered on the night of 
February 2, 1894, off Roncador Reef, while on a voyage 
from Port-au-Prince, Hayti, to Bluefields, Nicaragua. 
Ofificers and crew w^ere saved. 

Fate of the Other Vessels. — The Confederacy had 
other cruisers roving the high seas. The Georgia was cap- 
tured ofT the coast of Portugal when she had no armament 
on board. She was taken as a lawful prize and sent to the 
United States for adjudication. The Florida was attacked, 
contrary to the law of nations, October 7, 1864, while lying 
in the neutral port of Bahia. Brazil. She was sent to Hamp- 
ton Roads the following month, and, while lying there until 
the question of the legality of her capture could be decided, 
was run into by a steam transport and sunk. Some people 
believed this was not an accident. 

The ironclad Albemarle was the special dread of the block- 



362 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

ading fleet off the mouth of the Roanoke. No more for- 
midable vessel was ever in the service of the Confederacy. 
She defeated the Federal fleet in two fierce engagements, 
and prevented any attack on Plymouth, N. C, which the 
Confederates captured in April, 1864. There was fear, in- 
deed, that the Albemarle would interfere with Grant's cam- 
paign against Richmond. 

On the night of October 2^, Lieutenant Cushing, with 
a crew of thirteen men, stealthily ascended the river in a 
small steam launch, provided with a spar-torpedo, that is, a 
torpedo fastened to the end of a pole or spar-like piece of 
wood. The Albemarle was about eight miles up the Roan- 
oke. The approach of Cushing was not discovered until he 
was within fifty feet of the ironclad. Then he put on all 
steam, dashed against the side of the Albemarle and ex- 
ploded his torpedo under her sheathing. The shock sank 
Cushing's small boat and destroyed the Albemarle, which 
filled and went to the bottom of the river. Strange to say, 
Lieutenant Cushing, although repeatedly fired upon, made 
his escape, most of his companions being taken prisoners. 

The Shenandoah. — The career of the Slioiaiidoah was 
the most romantic of all. She was originally the Sea King, 
which sailed out of the Thames in October, 1864. Captain 
James L Waddell, when his crew and an armament were 
placed on board, changed her name to the Shenandoah. 
One of her Lieutenants was a nephew of General Robert E. 
Lee and the son of Admiral Lee, commander of the Phila- 
delphia Navy Yard at the opening of the war. He had seen 
service on the Georgia and Florida. The Chief-engineer and 
Paymaster were from the Alabama, and every commissioned 
officer was a graduate of the Naval Academy at Annapolis. 

The Shenandoah was capable of going eighteen knots an 
hour, and made her first capture on the 29th of October. 
She then headed for the South Seas, and averaged a prize 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 363 

almost every other day. She had several narrow escapes 
from the Federal cruisers hunting for her, and in January 
was in Australia. In June, 1865, she played havoc among 
the American whalers in Behring Sea. On the 5th of July 
she performed probably the most remarkable exploit of the 
kind ever known. She bonded two whaling vessels and 
sank nine. 

It will be noted that this was months after the surrender 
of the Southern Confederacy, of which disaster Captain 
Waddell knew nothing. On the 2d of August he learned 
from an English ship that the war had ended nearly four 
months before, and the flag under which he sailed repre- 
sented a nation that had no existence. He at once crowded 
all steam for England, where he arrived just six months, 
lacking four days, after the close of the war. The Shenan- 
doah was turned over to the United States consul at Liver- 
pool, and was finally sold to the Sultan of Zanzibar, who 
used her as a pleasure craft. Some years after she foun- 
dered with all on board. 

Admission of Nevada Nevada became a member of 

the American Union, October 31, 1864. 

Presidential Election of 1864. — The Democratic 
nominees for the Presidency and Vice-Presidency of the 
United States, in November, 1864, were General George B. 
McClellan, of New Jersey, and George H. Pendleton, of 
Ohio. Although their platform was that of peace, they car- 
ried three States — Delaware, Kentucky and New Jersey 
— received nearly as large a popular vote (1,808,725) as 
Lincoln received in i860, when his vote was only 1,866,352, 
and would certainly have carried other States, and possibly 
been elected, had not Federal bayonets controlled the elec- 
tion. The people of the North were tired of the war, and 
of its conduct. But, as it was, Abraham Lincoln was re- 
elected, with Andrew Johnson, Vice-President. 



364 HVnoOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Several Other Battles. — At Olustee, or Ocean Pond, 
February 20, 1864, Generals Finnegan and A. H. Colquitt 
defeated with severe loss the Federal General Seymour and 
drove back his invasion of Florida. General Nathan Bed- 
ford Forrest, who has been called " The Stojiczvall Jackson 
of the West,'' was active during the year, and achieved 
some very handsome successes. On February 22 he routed 
the cavalry under W. S. Smith which was to support Sher- 
man's march of devastation across Mississippi, and com- 
pelled the latter to turn back from Meridian. He captured 
Fort Pillow on the 12th of April by assault, and, among the 
negro troops who held it, crying out "' No quarter to the 
Rebels," the slaughter was fearful ; but Forrest stopped his 
men in their bloody work as soon as he could, and the 
charges of brutality made against him by Northern writers 
have been refuted by unimpeachable testimony. 

On the loth of June, Forrest, with about 5000 men, at- 
tacked General Sturgis at Tishamingo Creek, or Price's 
Cross Roads, near Guntown, and so completely routed 
him that Sturgis lost, out of his force of 12,000, 5000 in 
killed, wounded, and prisoners, all of his artillery, number- 
ing twenty pieces, and all of his wagon trains. 

General Hoke made a gallant and successful move 
against Plymouth, N. C, and, on the 20th of April, with the 
aid of the ironclad Albemarle, captured the town with its 
garrison, artillery and valuable stores. Washington, N. C, 
also fell into his hands. 

Fort Fisher, North Carolina, was attacked on the 24th 
and 25th of December by a large land force under General 
B. F. Butler and seventy vessels under Commodore Porter. 
The explosion of General Butler's " Powder-Boat " against 
the fort was a costly experiment, whicli did the Confeder- 
ates no harm and brought great ridicule on its projector. 
The fort was ■well defended, and the attack repulsed. 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 365 

Results of 1864 Despite the immense disparity in 

numbers and resources, there can be no doubt that the bat- 
tles of 1864 were very decidedly in favor of the Confeder- 
ates. There were sixty-five of them and the Federals g'ained 
twenty-one, the Confederates forty-three, and one was 
indecisive. 

But the resources of the Confederacy were greatly weak- 
ening. The blockade was more rigid than ever, large por- 
tions of their best territory had been overrun and desolated, 
the railroads had been cut or destroyed so as to hinder the 
collecting of supplies, and those which remained intact were 
broken down and so badly needed rails and new equipments 
of every kind that they were very inefificient and unreliable 
for transporting supplies or troops, the armies were reduced 
in numbers and on starvation rations, and there was no 
hope of improvement, while they needed shoes, clothing, 
medicines, arms, ammunition, indeed, everything that goes 
to make an army efficient. 

On the other hand, the Federal Government, with the 
world for their recruiting ground and their storehouse, 
were able to keep in the field larger and better equipped 
armies than ever before. 

Questions What is said of General Grant? What had been 

done by the Federals, and what remained to be done? Give an ac- 
count of General Sherman's campaign in the South. Give an 
account of the capture of Atlanta. Give an account of Sherman's 
march to the sea. The Kilpatrick-Dahlgren Raid. Give an ac- 
count of Grant's campaign against Richmond. Tell of the battle 
of the " Wilderness." Spottsylvania Court House. Sheridan's 
Raid and death of Stuart. Cold Harbor. Other operations of 
the campaign. The siege of Petersburg. Earley's Valley cam- 
paign. Mosby's Confederacy. Bank's Red River expedition. 
Tell how Admiral Porter saved his fleet of gunboats. Describe 
Admiral Farragut's fight in Mobile Bay. Give a brief history of 
the Alabama. What of the Presidential election of 1864? 



366 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

CHAPTER XXXI. 
LAST YEAR OF THE WAR, 1865. 

The End Near It is easy to see now that the end was 

very near when the year 1865 opened, and that the more 
than a milhon men the Federal Government had actually in 
the field, backed by their almost unlimited resources, would 
soon be able to overcome the bare 100,000 which the Con- 
federacy had under arms, and with no prospect of recruiting 
her armies, or of supplymg those she had. 

And yet the steadfast courage and hope shown by Presi- 
dent Davis, General Lee and others of the leaders, by the 
ragged, starving men in gray, by most of the people, and 
especially by the noble women of the Confederacy, form a 
bright chapter in history worthy of study and deserving 
grateful remembrance. Each side awaited with bated 
breath the opening of the campaign. 

Capture of Fort Fisher Commodore Porter, who 

was very much dissatisfied with the result of his campaign 
in connection with General Butler, insisted upon another 
expedition against Fort Fisher. General Terry was sent to 
command the land forces numbering over 20,000. Porter's 
fleet numbered fifty-nine vessels — five of them ironclads — 
and carried 413 guns. 

The heroic garrison of 2500 men, under command of 
General W. H. C. Whiting, resisted this attack until the 
walls of the fort were battered down, the powder magazine 
exploded, and the fort was rendered untenable. There was 
a fierce hand to hand struggle until midnight, January 
15th. when General Whiting having been mortally 
wounded, and Colonel William Lamb, who succeeded to 
the command, disabled, the 180Q Confederates who re- 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 367 

mained were surrendered to the combined naval and land 
forces. 




This was one of the greatest bombardments in the his- 
tory of the world, lasting three days and two nights, and 
the continued fighting of the garrison for six hours after 



3G8 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

the Federals entered the fort was the longest hand to hand, 
and one of the most deseprate fights during the War. The 
Federal loss was 1445 killed and wounded. The Confed- 
erate loss is unknown. The capture of Wilmington soon 
followed, and that important port was closed to the Con- 
federate blockade-runners. 

The supplies which came into the Confederacy through 
this port were of the greatest importance, and their loss 
keenly felt. 

There is no defense in the world's history which sur- 
passes, if there is one that equals, the defense of Fort 
Sumter and Charleston harbor in the combined skill, and 
heroic patience and courage displayed by the of^cers and 
men who made it. Careful estimates show that the total 
number of projectiles thrown against Sumter was 46,053 ; 
that the total weight of metal thrown against it was 3500 
tons, and that the total number of days it was under fire, 
steady or desultory, was 280. The fort was never sur- 
rendered, but was evacuated when Sherman's movements 
rendered it necessary. 

Peace Negotiations. — Both sides had long been weary 
of the war and were anxious for peace, yet the Confeder- 
ate authorities felt that they had made every proper over- 
ture without success, and that the next one must come from 
Washington. Through the influence of Mr. Frank Blair, 
Mr. Lincoln wrote a letter indicating that he was ready to 
confer on the subject, and arrangements were made for a 
conference on board a vessel in Hampton Roads between 
Vice-President A. H. Stephens, Judge J. A. Campbell and 
Hon. R. M. T. Hunter, on the part of the Confederates, and 
President Lincoln and Secretary W. H. Seward, on the part 
of the Federals. There was hope that something might be 
accomplished ; the Federal soldiers cheered the Confederate 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 369 

commissioners as they went through their hncs ; but noth- 
ing was effected by the conference. 

On the return of the Confederate commissioners to Rich- 
mond, immense mass-meetings were held, and President 
Davis, Secretary Benjamin and others made speeches of 
rare eloquence and popular power, which excited a high 
pitch of enthusiasm ; but this could not recruit the armies or 
recuperate the resources of the Confederacy. 

Sherman's Northward March Resting a month at 

Savannah, Sherman began his march northward, leaving 
desolation along his track, plundering and destroying 
houses and private property of every description. Colum- 
bia was captured February 17, and nearly the whole city 
burned to the ground by the Federal soldiers with the con- 
nivance of their officers. Sherman charged in his oflicial 
report at the time that Wade Hampton burned the city, but 
in his " Memoirs " he coolly admits that this charge was 
false, and that he made it to injure Hampton with his 
people. Charleston was threatened in the rear and evacu- 
ated the next day. Fort Sumter, which had defied every 
attack from the sea, and had heroically repulsed every effort 
to take it, now saw the Stars and Bars lowered and the Stars 
and Stripes run up and floating over its glorious ruins. 

General J. E. Johnston having been recalled to the com- 
mand of the Confederate troops in North Carolina, offered 
what resistance he could to the advance of the Federal 
army. Severe engagements were fought, and Confederate 
victories won at Averysboro and Bentonville, but Johnston 
was too weak to stay the progress of the 66,000 Federals. 
At Goldsboro, the army of Schofield from Wilmington, and 
Terry from Newbern joined Sherman, swelling his force to 
over 100,000. At this juncture, Sherman went to City 
Point to meet Grant and arrange with him the plan of the 
final campaign. 




GEN.GRAMT 15 ON PAGE 381 



GEN MEADE IS ON PAGE 331 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 371 

Opening of the Campaign in Virginia Sheridan 

opened the campaign in Virginia by moving up the Valley 
with his splendid body of 10,000 cavalry, and on March 2 
attacked and scattered Early's small force of about 1200 at 
Waynesboro, crossed the mountains, destroyed the railways 
at Charlottesville and toward Lynchburg, which place he 
was prevented from capturing by high water, broke up the 
James river canal and joined Grant at Petersburg. 

General Stoneman in Southwest Virginia cut the railroad 
at Wytheville and Christiansburg, rendered unserviceable 
the lead mines from w^hich the Confederates obtained all 
their lead, and destroyed the salt works on the Holston, 
upon which the region east of the Mississippi depended for 
salt. 

Operations Around Petersburg The winter along 

the Richmond and Petersburg lines had been one of fearful 
hardship and suffering to the half-clad, half-fed soldiers of 
Lee. But they kept stout hearts ; they had built at great 
sacrifice (frequently carrying the timbers for miles on their 
shoulders) sixty chapels located at convenient points on the 
lines ; they had prayer-meetings in their bombproofs, the 
chaplains and missionaries always found eager listeners, 
thousands of soldiers professed conversion, and songs of 
praise often drowned the whistling of the minie or the 
bursting of the shell. 

The supplies of the Confederacy had been so reduced, 
and its currency so depreciated, that during the winter of 
'64-'65 fiour sold in Richmond and Petersburg at $300 per 
barrel, corn meal at $50. and corn at $15 per bushel. All 
other necessaries sold in the same proportion, and luxuries 
were out of the question. Parched rye, meal, chestnuts or 
sweet potatoes were used as substitutes for coffee, and sor- 
ghum (" long sweetening " it was called) for sugar. The 
women of the Confederacy wore homespun, or the faded 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 3T3 

garments of other days, and made their own hats, shoes, 
gloves, etc. They robbed their floors of carpets, their l)eds 
of blankets, and their own scantily furnished tables of the 
best of everything that they might send these things to the 
camps or the hospitals. 

In February, 1865, General Lee was appointed Com- 
mander-in-Chief of all of the armies of the Confederacy, 
and issued a beautiful order on assuming this command, 
but it was now too late for him to accomplish much. 

General Grant had under his immediate command, along 
the Richmond and Petersburg lines, at the opening of the 
campaign of '65, 162,2^^4 men, while on March 31 Lee had, 
to guard thirty-five miles of breastworks and meet any 
move of Federals, only 33,000 men ; in other words, Grant 
could hold his lines, which had been made very strong by 
engineering skill and ample material, with a force twice as 
large as Lee's whole army, and then send a force of 100,000 
men to move around his flanks and operate in his rear. 
And to make matters worse for the Confederates, Sherman 
was moving up with 100,000 men, while Johnston had only 
18,000 to oppose him. This was the situation as shown by 
the offlcial figures. 

Yet with a boldness that seemed almost rash, Lee deter- 
mined to make an effort to cut Grant's lines south of the 
Appomattox, and accordingly, at 4 130 on the morning of 
March 25, a storming party, under the heroic Gordon, 
broke through the trench guards and captured Fort Sted- 
man and two adjacent batteries. But their supports failed, 
there was concentrated upon the victors an overwhelming 
force and a terrific fire, and after displaying conspicuous 
gallantry, they were forced to retire, losing 1949 prisoners 
and 1000 killed and wounded, but inflicting heavy loss on 
the enemy and bringing back 560 prisoners, among them 
Briffadier-General McLaughlin. 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 375 

General Lee had. during the winter, carefully considered 
the question of evacuating Richmond and Petersburg and, 
by a rapid movement on Danville, uniting with Johnston to 
strike Sherman before Grant could come up. This plan 
had been decided on, and would have been put into execu- 
tion but that the condition of the roads and the weak con- 
dition of the horses of the artillery and transportation 
hindered it, until Grant forestalled it by his movements. 

On March 28, Grant sent Sheridan in command of liis 
Cavalry, now numbering 15,000, and the two Infantry corps 
of Warren and Humphreys, to turn Lee's right, cut his rail- 
ways and prevent his moving on Danville. Lee sent what 
Infantry and Cavalry he could to meet this move, and, on 
the evening of the 31st, Pickett and Fitz Lee attacked and 
drove Sheridan's Cavalry corps back to Dinwiddle Court 
House, but fell back to Five Forks on the morning of April 
I. Here that evening Sheridan, with his Cavalry and In- 
fantry, attacked and routed Pickett, who was badly posted 
and with scarcely any cover, the Confederate loss being 
between 3000 and 4000 men, thirteen colors, and six guns. 

Lee was obliged to weaken his lines, until he had scarcely 
a good skirmish line to guard thirty-five miles along his 
front and at 4 a. m. the next day (April 2) Grant attacked 
along his whole line from the Appomattox to Hatcher's 
Run, and broke the Confederate lines at several points. As 
General Lee expressed it, " I had to stretch my lines until 
they broke." 

Evacuation of Richmond and Petersburg An in- 
ner line was held all day against repeated efforts to break 
it, but Lee saw that evacuation v^^as now necessary, and that 
morning sent the famous telegram to Mr. Davis, which was 
delivered while he was quietly worshiping in St. Paul's 
Church, Richmond, of which he was a member. It was 



37fi 



SCHOOL //A.S'7'O/i'y OF THE UNITED .STATES. 



received and treated with the cahn dignity and indomitable 
courage which so characterized the Confederate President. 
Preparations were made for evacuating the whole line 
that night. The President and his officials took a train of 
cars for Danville, bearing themselves as proudly in defeat 
as they had done in victory, and the silent columns of Gray 
moved out on roads leading towards Danville. 




RUINS IN RICHMOND. 1865. 

Under a misapprehension of orders, the tobacco ware- 
houses in the city of Richmond were set on fire, and the 
flames spread rapidly, so that the heart of the business por- 
tion of the city was destroyed. Thus the heroic city, which, 
for nearly four years, had resisted all the mighty combina- 
tions against her, was literally " in sackcloth and ashes " 
when, on the fateful morning of April 3, 1865, her brave 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 377 

defenders all gone, she opened her gates and General Wetzel 
marched in his command. 

Only two incidents connected with the fall of Richmond 
and Petersburg, among the many of interest, can be here 
given. Lieutenant-General A. P. Hill, one of the most gal- 
lant and skillful soldiers of the army, with which he had 
been identified from the beginning, on hearing that his lines 
had been broken, was attempting to reach the part of his 
corps that had been cut ofif, when he was shot and instantly 
killed by a vidette of Federals whom he attempted to cap- 
ture. Able, accomplished, brave, and patriotic, he had been 
one of the most conspicuous figures in the Army of North- 
ern Virginia, and had rendered the Confederacy most de- 
voted and valuable services. In the campaign of 1864 his 
corps had killed, wounded and captured double as many 
men as it numbered, and had taken in battle a number of 
guns, flags, etc., without ever having its battle line broken 
or losing a gun or a flag. And now its superb leader fell 
in the hour of disaster, when his lines had been for the first 
time broken, when the grand old army he had contributed 
so much to make was about to go to pieces, and the cause 
he loved so well was about to fail. 

The other incident was the heroic defense of Fort Gregg, 
an enclosed work on the right of Lee's lines into which de- 
tachments of the Twelfth and Sixteenth Mississippi, of Har- 
ris's Mississippi brigade, some artillerymen of Hill's corps 
and a few others of different commands had retreated, and 
which they defended with an obstinate courage and self- 
sacrificing devotion worthy to he written alongside the most 
heroic achievements of history, and forming a fitting close 
to the grand defense of Petersburg. 

The Retreat and Surrender — General Lee's plan now 
was to concentrate his army at Amelia Court House, wliere 
he had ordered rations to be stored, and then using the Rich- 



378 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

niond and Danville Railroad to transfer it, to hurry South 
to unite with Johnston and strike Sherman. But when he 
reached Amelia Court House he found that his orders had 
not been carried out, and that no rations had been provided. 
The day's delay in trying to collect rations from the sur- 
rounding country proved fatal, as it enabled Grant to cut 
the railroad south of him. Then began that running fight 
between immense odds of the enemy and Lee's ragged, 
weary, starving remnant of his glorious old army, which 
terminated at Appomattox. 

A great disaster befell the Confederates at Sailor's Creek, 
where they were attacked by overwhelming numbers in 
front, flank and rear, and lost nearly 6000 men — among 
the prisoners being Generals Ewell, Custis Lee, Kershaw, 
Corse, Hunton and Dubose — and they lost heavily at other 
points. 

But, in turn, they inflicted much loss on the Federals, cap- 
turing more prisoners than they knew what to do with in 
the many afifairs along the lines of their retreat, paroling a 
number, and having with them over 1000 when they reached 
Appomattox Court House. 

On the 7th of /\pril. Grant wrote Lee suggesting his sur- 
render, and the famous correspondence between them en- 
sued, and on the same date his corps commanders sug- 
gested to Lee that the time for negotiations had come. In 
a conference with these (Longstreet and Gordon, command- 
ing the Infantry ; Fitz iTee, chief of Cavalry, an"d Pendleton, 
chief of Artillery), on the night of the 8th, it was agreed 
that early the next morning Gordon and Fitz Lee should 
advance towards Appomattox Station and cut their way 
through if nothing but Cavalry barred the road, and that 
Longstreet should follow ; but that if Grant's Infantry was 
up in full force they should call a halt and notify General 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 379 

Lee, who would raise a flag of truce and seek General 
Grant, with a view to surrender. 

Accordingly, the next morning Gordon and Fitz Lee ad- 
vanced, drove Sheridan over a mile, and captured two pieces 
of artillery and a number of prisoners. But their victorious 
advance was finally checked by General Ord and two corps 
of Federal Infantry, numbering over 40,000 men. In a 
word. General Lee, with a force which had dwindled down 
to barely 7800, with arms in their hands, was surrounded 
by about 80,000 Federals, and surrender was inevitable. 
When the message of the indomitable Gordon came, " Tell 
General Lee I have fought my old corps to a frazzle, and 
can do nothing more unless heavily supported by Long- 
street," Lee said, " Then there is nothing left me but to go 
to General Grant, and I had rather die a thousand deaths 
than to do it." 

Many wild propositions were made by gallant of^cers 
who gathered around, and one said, " Oh, General, what 
will history say of us if we surrender the army in the field? " 
" I know they will say hard things of us. Colonel," was the 
calm reply ; " they will not know the odds against which we 
fought or the circumstances which surrounded us. But 
that is not the question, Colonel ; tJic only question is — Is it 
right to surrender this army? and if it is right I tvill take all 
the responsibility.^' He had said that before he would accept 
" unconditional surrender " as the terms. " he would put 
himself at the head of the remnant of his brave men, and 
they would all die in their tracks/' 

But Grant's terms were generous, and his whole beaiing 
on the occasion considerate. The two chiefs met at Appo- 
mattox Court House, in the parlor of Mr. McLean, whose 
house on Bull Run Beauregard had for his headquarters 
during the fight on the 18th of July. 1861, and the occasion 
was marked by calm dignity and manly bearing on both 



kiVnOOL Uli^TORl' OF TUE UNITED HTATEti. ;;si 



'ii^ps^l, 



sides. When once asked if General Grant and himself did 
not " meet under an apple tree," General Lee replied, 
"We met in Mr. McLean's parlor. If there was an apple tree 
there I did not see it." When asked if General Grant did 
not " return his sword," Lee replied, " No ! he had no op- 
portunity of doing so. By the terms of the surrender the 
sidearms of ofificers were exempt, and I did not, of course, 
violate those tcniis by tendering my szvord to General Grant. 
All that was said 
about swords 
was that Gen- 
eral Grant apol- 
ogized to me for 
not wearing his 
own sword, say- 
ing that it was 
in his baggage 
and he could not 
get it in time." 
The final details 
of the surrender 

were arranged v V^ 

by Generals 

Gibbon, Griffin 

and ^lerritt, on 

tiie part of the 

Federals, and 

Generals Longstreet, Gordon and Pendleton, on the part of 

the Confederates. 

When Lee returned to his headquarters from his meeting 
with Grant, officers and men crowded around him to take 
his hand, and bronzed veterans of an hundred glorious vic- 
tories wept like children that the cause they loved, and for 




LIEUTENANT GENERAI, ('.RANT. 



382 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

which they would gladly have laid down their lives, had 
failed. Lee issued to his army the following farewell : 
" Headquarters, Army of Northern Virginia, 

" April 10, '65. 
" After four years of arduous service, marked by unsur- 
passed courage and fortitude, the Army of Northern Vir- 
ginia has been compelled to yield to overwhelming numbers 
and resources. I need not tell the survivors of so many 
hard-fought battles, who have remained steadfast to the last, 
that I have consented to this result from no distrust of 
them ; but feeling that valor and devotion could accomplish 
nothing that could compensate for the loss that would have 
attended the continuation of the contest, I have determined 
to avoid the useless sacrifice of those whose past services 
have endeared them to their coimtrymen. By the terms of 
the agreement, ofBccrs and men can return to their homes 
and remain there until exchanged. You will take with you 
the satisfaction that proceeds from the consciousness of 
duty faithfully performed, and I earnestly pray that a merci- 
ful God will extend to you His blessing and protection. 
With an unceasing admiration of your constancy and devo- 
tion to your country, and a grateful remembrance of your 
kind and generous consideration of myself, I bid you an 
affectionate farewell. 

" R. E. LEE, General." 

Assassination of President Lincoln. — While the North 
was ringing with shouts of gladness, the whole country was 
shocked by news of the assassination of President Lincoln. 
While the President was seated with his family and friends 
in a box in Ford's Theatre, in Washington, April 14, John 
Wilkes TJooth, an actor, whose egotism approached insan- 
ity , stealthily entered and fired a pistol hM into the head of 
the President, llicn, leaping from the box to the st^ge, 
he dashed out, sprang upon a horse in waiting, and rode at 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE VXITED STATES. 383 

full speed out of the city. He was pursued aud run down 
in Virginia, April 26, and shot while resisting arrest. 

President Lincoln was carried to a private house across 
the street, where he lingered until the next morning, when 
he died. His funeral took place on the 19th, and he was 
widely and deeply lamented. The South felt that his death 
was a calamity to her, as she decidedly preferred him to his 
successor. 

Surrender of Johnston and the Remaining Con= 
federate Forces General Johnston surrendered to Gen- 
eral Sherman, April 26, upon the same terms given by 
Grant to Lee. General Taylor and the remaining Confed- 
erate armies east of the Mississippi submitted on the 4th of 
May. E. Kirby Smith, of the Trans-Mississippi Depart- 
ment, did the same in Texas on the 26th of May. Thus 
ended all armed resistance to the Federal Government. 

General Robert Edward Lee It is not usual to 

honor the leader of a cause that fails, and yet the calm, 
quiet, dignified soldier, who led his army to final defeat and 
surrender, who rode away from Appomattox " a prisoner of 
war on parole," who was cheered by Federal soldiers as he 
rode into Richmond, who was the idol of his army and his 
people, and " has ridden into history the tallest, whitest 
chieftain of them all," deserves to be held up to the youth 
of our country as patriot, soldier, citizen. Christian gentle- 
man, whose beautifully rounded character and noble life are 
well worthy of careful study and imitation. 

Descended from a long line of illustrious English ances- 
tors, and the son of " Light Horse Harry Lee " of the 
Revolution, Robert Edward Lcc was born at Stratford, 
Westmoreland county, Va. — the birthplace of Washing- 
ton. Monroe and other distinguished Americans — on the 
19th of January, 1807. 

Noted as a boy for manly beauty, diligence in study. 



384 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

devotion to his invalid mother, and rare traits of mind and 
heart, he was loved by all who knew him. 

Distinguished as a scholar in the famons High School of 
Mr. Hallowell, in Alexandria, Va., he entered the Military 
Academy well prepared, passed through the four years' 
curriculum without ever receiving a single demerit — a 
thing very rarely accomplished in the history of the Acad- 
emy — and graduated second in an unusually brilliant class. 

Appointed Lieutenant of Engineers in the United States 
army, he made a most brilliant record, and greatly distin- 
guished himself by the ability and engineering skill he 
showed in various works. 

After the Mexican war. General Scott pronounced him : 
" The best soldier I ever saw in the field. The greatest 
military genius in America, and if the opportunity offers 
Lee will show himself the foremost Captain of his time." 

He married the sweetheart f)f his youth — Mary Custis, 
the daughter of George Washington Parke Custis, the 
adopted son of Washington — on whom no higiier eulogy 
can be pronounced than to say that she was worthy to 
grace the home and share the fortunes of Robert Lee. 

Their beautiful home at " Arlington," on the Virginia 
side of the Potomac, was the abode of taste, culture, and 
refinement, and of real old Virginia hospitality, and there 
M^as never a more devoted husband and father or one who 
loved home more than this great soldier. 

In the Mexican war he so greatly distinguished himself 
that General Scott commended him in almost every dis- 
patch, and he was again and again promoted for " gallant 
and meritorious conduct " until he was " Brevet Colonel." 

He did distinguished service on the frontier, was several 
years Superintendent of the West Point Academy, and v.'as 
Colonel in the Regular United States Army when the " War 
Between the States " broke out. 




GENKKNL Uul.hKl 1, 



386 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

He was offered by Mr. Lincoln the supreme command of 
the armies he proposed to send against the seceded States, 
and he was urged by General Scott to accept the offer, and 
" not throw away the great opportunity of his life ; " but he 
calmly replied, that while he recognized no occasion for the 
state of things that existed — while he did not hesitate to 
say, " If the four millions of slaves in the South were mine 
I would free them with a stroke of the pen to avert this 
war " — yet that he could not take up arms against his 
State, his home, his children, and he, therefore, declined the 
tempting offer. 

It cost General Lee hours of agony when compelled to 
decide upon his course. He loved the Union but he be- 
lieved implicitly in the sovereign rights of the States. He 
walked the floor and prayed a long time for divine guidance. 
When Virginia seceded, he cast his lot with her, and history 
has told with what magnificent valor and matchless ability 
he conducted the tremendous struggle through four years 
of war and conflict such as had never been known on this 
continent. Sheathing at Appomattox his stainless sword, 
Lee proved himself greater in peace than in war. 

Refusing the most tempting offers of pecuniary assist- 
ance which poured in upon him, and letting it be under- 
stood that " liis name zvas not for sale at any price," he 
accepted the Presidency of Washington College at Lex- 
ington, Va. 

General Lee was installed president October 2, 1865, and 
at once entered upon his duties. The ceremonies were of 
the simplest nature possible, which was in accordance with 
his own wishes. He gave his full ability and energy to the 
new work to which he had been called. The lustre of his 
name brought hundreds of students from all parts of the 
country, even from the North. The institution was in 
straitened circumstances, but under his admirable admin- 



SCHOOL nhSTORT OF THE UNITED 8TATES. 387 

istration it speedily attained a degree of prosperity never 
before known. He elevated the standard of scholarship, 
and infused a spirit of good-will, honorable ambition and 
unity of aim, which rendered the discipline nearly perfect. 
The college received many handsome donations from all 
parts of the Union and even Europe. 

Devoting himself to the task, as he expressed it, of 
" teaching young men to do their duty in life," there can 
be little doubt that Robert E. Lee was the greatest college 
President whom this country has ever produced and the 
world would have recognized this fact had he lived a few 
years longer. 

In order that he might set a proper example to others, 
he availed himself of the conditions of President Johnson's 
" amnesty " proclamation, and applied for " amnesty," 
sending his application through General Grant, who cor- 
dially endorsed it ; but Johnson never condescended to 
notice, it, and it will remain forever a blot upon American 
civilization that this greatest of American citizens died " a 
prisoner of war on parole," denied the rights of citizenship 
accorded to the meanest and most ignorant negro in the 
land. 

A United States grand jury, composed of six whites and 
six negroes, under the manipulation of the infamous 
" Judge " Underwood, had found an indictment of treason 
against him, but General Grant boldly claimed that Lee was 
under the protection of his parole, and could not be tried, 
and Johnson had to seek some other method of " making 
treason odious." 

General Lee, however, was ready for the trial and anxious 
to vindicate himself and his people before the world and at 
the bar of history, for while he fully " accepted the situa- 
tion," and all logical and proper results of the war, he never 
changed his mind as to the justice of the cause for which he 



388 l^CnOOL HISTORY OF THE VNTTED ST ATE. ^. 

fought. He said to that grand old soldier, General Wade 
Hampton, of South Carolina, in June, 1869, alluding to the 
part he took in the war : " / could have pursued no other course 
without disJwnor, and if it were all to go over again I should act 
in precisely the same zvay." He was always accustomed to 
speak of the war as " our great struggle for constitutional 
freedom." 

Among the prominent traits of General Lee's character 
may be mentioned — Devotion and Duty — A spirit of self- 
sacrifice for the good of others — Modest simplicity, hu- 
mility, and gentleness — Firmness in carrying out what he 
believed right — Want of bitterness towards the North, 
but devotion to his loved Southland — Love of children — 
and afifectionate devotion to his family. 

But the glory of Lee, after all, was the child-like sim- 
plicity of his faith in Christ, his spotless Christian char- 
acter, and the earnest, though quiet, work he did for the 
salvation of others. A man of prayer, a student of God's 
Word, a regular attendant on religious services, he was the 
constant friend of his chaplains during the war, and the 
efficient promoter of religion among his officers and men. 
When he went to Washington College, he was as active in 
promoting real piety among the students, and used the most 
efficient means of doing so. " If I could only know that all 
the young men in the college were good Christians," said 
he to Dr. Kirkpatrick, his eyes filling with tears and his 
voice tremulous with emotion, " I should . have nothing 
more to desire." 

On the afternoon of September 28, 1870, he attended a 
meeting of the vestry of Grace Episcopal Church, of 
which he was a member. He presided, and his last public 
act was a liberal contribution to his church. The session 
was prolonged, and General Lee returned home late. He 
was in good spirits, and, entering the dining-room, he stood 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE VISITED STATES. 389 

at the table with his family. Bowing his head to ask a 
blessing, as was his custom, his lips parted, but no words 
came from them. His son, General Custis Lee, hastened 
to his side, and found he was speechless. He was carried 
to his bed and medical aid summoned. After a time he 
recovered his power of utterance, and it was hoped, and 
generally believed, he would soon be restored to health. 
He recognized his friends, occasionally spoke, but most of 
the time lay in stupor. Everything that skill and loving 
kindness could do was done for him. On Monday, October 
10, he was seen to be sinking. His mind wandered at in- 
tervals, and, like Stonewall Jackson, in his last moments, he 
called the name of the great lieutenant of the 3d Corps, 
saying, " Tell A. P. Hill to prepare for action," his thoughts 
reverting to the troublous times when he was at the head 
of the army. 

Between 9 and 10 o'clock Wednesday morning, October 
12, 1870, surrounded by his family, General Lee, the Chris- 
tian hero breathed his last. The funeral services were of 
the most impressive character, large crowds attended, and 
weeping friends and admirers bore him to the tomb. Me- 
morial services were held all over the South and appropriate 
sermons preached, addresses made and resolutions passed. 
The Southern press was filled with glowing eulogies, the 
Northern press generally was exceedingly kindly in its tone, 
and some of the papers highly eulogistic ; and the foreign 
press echoed the sentiment of the London Standard, which 
said : "A country which has given birth to men like him and 
those who followed him may look the chivalry of Europe in 
the face without shame, for fJic fatherlands of Sidney a)id of 
Bayard never produeed a nobler soldier, gentleman and Chris- 
tian than Robert Edzvard Lee." 

On the 28th of June, T883. ^ alentine's marble recumbent 
figure of Lee, which decks his grave at Lexington, and is 



390 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

one of the finest works of art on this continent, was un- 
veiled in the presence of a large crowd of enthusiastic ad- 
mirers, the address being made by Senator John W. Daniel, 
of Virginia. A handsome mounment was erected to him 
in New Orleans. But, perhaps, the grandest occasion of 
the kind was the unveiling of Mercier's Equestrian Statue 
of Lee in Richmond on May 29, 1890, when an immense 
crowd went in procession to the spot. Colonel Archer 
Anderson made the address, and there was an enthusiasm 
rarely equaled, never .excelled, when Lee's old soldiers 
gathered around and General Joseph E. Johnston pulled 
the cord which unveiled to their eyes the bronze represen- 
tation of their idolized commander. 

And so he lives in the hearts of his own people, and of the 
world, and will be handed down in history as one of whom 
America will ever be proud. 

The Conduct of the War Between the States — 
We would not revive bitter memories of a stormy past, nor 
perpetuate harrowing details of the cruelties of the war, but 
as the Confederates have been so widely slandered as to 
their conduct of the war, and not only at the North, but in 
Europe held up to indignation on account of their alleged 
cruel treatment of prisoners, we deem it due to the truth of 
history, as well as to the fair name of a brave and honorable 
people, that we should make this brief statement which is 
abundantly attested by the ofihcial records. The Confeder- 
ate Congress never passed a law, and no Confederate official 
^ver issued an order, directing, approving, or suggesting 
any conduct on the part of any Confederate troops, agents 
or employes not consistent with the recognized usages of 
civilized warfare. Such orders as those issued by Pope, 
Steinweirh, Milroy, some of the commanders in Missouri 
and other Federal officers were not only fitted to stir the 
bitterest enmity, but to provoke the sternest retaliation ; 



8CB00L HISTORY OF TflE UNITED STATES. 391 

while the burning by the Federals of probably sixty towns 
in the South, and thousands of private houses, the desola- 
tion of whole regions of country such as Sherman made in 
Georgia and the Carolinas, and Sheridan in the Valley of 
Virginia, and the perpetration of numberless other outrages 
upon the Confederates, would have palliated, if they had not 
justified, retaliation when the Confederates got the oppor- 
tunity. 

But when General Lee entered Pennsylvania, instead of 
retaliating, he issued an order condemning such a course in 
the strongest terms, and concluding as follows : " The com- 
manding general considers that no greater disgrace could 
befall the army and, through it, our whole people, than the 
perpetration of the barbarous outrages on the innocent and 
defenseless, and the wanton destruction of private property 
that have marked the course of the enemy in our country. 
Such proceedings not only disgrace the perpetrators and all 
connected with them, but are subversive of the discipline 
and efificiency of the army and destructive of the ends of our 
present movements. It must be remembered that we make 
war only upon armed men, and that we cannot take ven- 
geance for the wrongs our people have suffered without 
lowering ourselves in the eyes of all those whose abhorrence 
has been excited by the atrocities of our enemy, without 
offending against Him to whom vengeance belongeth, and 
without whose favor and support our efforts must all be 
in vain. 

" The Commanding General, therefore, earnestly exhorts 
the troops to abstain, with the most scrupulous care, from 
unnecessary or wanton injury to private property, and he 
enjoins upon all officers to arrest and bring to summary 
punishment all who shall in any way offend against the 
orders on this subject. 

" R. E. LEE, General." 



392 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The only town ever burned by Confederate orders was 
Chambersburg, Pa., which was burned in 1S64 by orders of 
General Early, in retaliation for Hunter's vandalism, and on 
the failure of the town authorities to pay the ransom in 
money demanded. 

This act of General Early's, though done from an honest 
purpose to repress further outrages of Federals, was dis- 
approved by General Lee, by the Confederate authorities 
and by the army and people generally. The gallant Colonel 
W. E. Peters, now the able and accomplished professor of 
Latin in the University of Virginia, absolutely refused to 
obey the order given him to burn the town, saying, " With 
a full knowledge of the consequences of refusing to obey 
orders. I have to say that you may take my sword, but I 
will not use the torch against innocent non-combatants." 
He was never tried for his disobedience of orders. 

As for the treatment of prisoners, the Confederate records 
were searched in vain for a scintilla of proof that the Con- 
federate authorities ever ordered or connived at any ill-treat- 
ment of prisoners. In the Southern Historieal Papers, Volume 
I, this whole question is fully discussed, and it is shown, 
beyond all cavil, that the Confederate authorities did every- 
thing in their power to mitigate the sufferings of prisoners 
— that they made various humane propositions to this end, 
which were rejected by the Fe^deral authorities — that they 
were always anxious to exchange prisoners, and carried out 
in good faith every " cartel " made for the purpose, while 
the Federals constantly violated the terms of the " cartel " 
whenever they thought it to their interest to do so — and 
that, while the sufferings of prisoners on both sides was 
fearful and the mortality very great, yet the of^cial reports 
of the Federal Secretary of War, E. M. Stanton, and the 
Federal Surgeon-General, Barnes, show that nearly 4 per 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 893 

cent, more of Confcdcralcs died in Xoiiltern [ri.sons than of 
Federals in Southern prisons. 

These figures, taken in connection with the well-known 
fact that the Federal authorities had the greatest abundance 
of rations, medicines and hospital stores of every descrip- 
tion, while the Confederates were sadly in need of these for 
their own soldiers, establish beyond doubt that the Confed- 
erates were innocent, and the authorities at Washington 
were guilty, of the blood of the brave men on both sides 
who perished in prison. In a word, the Confederates may 
proudly claim that they conducted the war on the highest 
plane of civilized warfare, and that the English poet. Pro- 
fessor Worsley, did not speak too strongly when, in his 
beautiful poem to Lee, he wrote : 

"Ah! realm of tombs, but let her bear 
This blazon to the last of times; 
No nation rose so white and fair. 
Or fell so pure of crimes." 

Questions. — Tell of the capture of Fort Fisher. Peace nego- 
tiations. Sherman's northward march. First operations of the 
campaign in Virginia. Evacuation of Richmond and Petersburg. 
Retreat and surrender. Assassination of President Lincoln. Sur- 
render of other Confederate forces. Give a sketch of General Lee. 
The conduct of the war on both sides. 



CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY OF EVENTS. 

A. D. Page. 

1861. Bombardment and capture of Fort Sumter, April 14 248 

1861. President Davis called for volunteers, April 29 250 

1861. Virginia seceded, April 17 249 

1861. Northern troops attacked in Baltimore, April 19 256 

1861. Arkansas seceded, May 6 249 

1861. North Carolina seceded, May 20 249 

1861. Fight at Phillipi, Va., June 3 257 

1861. Tennessee seceded, June 8 249 

1861. Confederate capital removed to Richmond, Va., May 29. . 257 



394 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

A. D. Page 

1861. Figlit at Kich Mountain, Va., July 11 258 

1861. Fight at Carrick's Ford, July 13 25S 

1861. Rattle of Manassas, or Bull Run, Va., July 21 262 

1861. Battle of Ball's Bluff, Va., October 21 265 

1861. Battle of Wilson's Creek, Mo., August 10 268 

1861. Federal defeat at Belmont, Mo., November 7 268 

1861. Seizure of Mason and Slidell, November 8 271 

1S62. Battle of Mill Spring, Ky., January 19 273 

1862. Loss of Fort Henry, Tenn., February 6 275 

1862. Roanoke Island, N. C, captured, Feburary 7 279 

1862. Fort Donaldson, Tenn., captured, February 16 276 

1862. Battle of Pea Ridge, Ark., March 7, 8 278 

1862. Battle between the Monitor and Virginia, March 9 286 

1862. Newbern, N. C, captured by Federals, March 13 279 

1862. Battle of Shiloh, or Pittsburg Landing, April 6, 7 279 

1862. Island No. 10 captured, April 7 282 

1862. Fall of New Orleans, April 25 283 

1862. Fort Macon, N. C, captured, April 25 279 

1862. Battle of Williamsburg, Va., May 5 288 

1862. Battles of Seven Pines and Fair Oaks, May 31, June i. . . 290 

1862. Seven Days' battles, June 25, July i 294 

1862. Second battle of Manassas, August 29, 30 296 

1862. Harper's Ferry surrendered, September 15 300 

1862. Battle of Sharpsburg, Md., September 16, 17 300 

1862. Battle of luka. Miss., September 19 306 

1862. Battle of Corinth, Miss., October 4 306 

1862. Battle of Perryville, Ky., October 8 305 

1862. Battle of Fredericksburg, Va., December 13 302 

1862. Battle of Murfreesboro, Tenn., December 31, January 2. . 308 

1863. Emancipation proclamation, January i 313 

1863. Capture of Galveston, Texas, January i 313 

1863. Battle of Chancellorsville, Va., May 2, 3 '. 321 

1863. Stonewall Jackson died. May 10 325 

1863. West Virginia admitted to the Union, June 19 334 

1863. Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3 328, 

1863. Vicksburg surrendered, July 4 316 

1863. Port Hudson surrendered, July 8 316 

1863. Battle of Chickamauga, September 19, 20 317 

1863. Battle of Missionary Ridge, November 25 318 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 395 

A. D. Page. 

1863. Siege of Knoxville raised, December 4 320 

1864. Battle of the Wilderness, Va., May 5, 6 347 

1864. Battle of Spottsylvania, Va., May 8-12 348 

1864. Battle of New Market, Va., May 15. . ! 351 

1864. Butler "bottled up" at Bermuda Hundred, May 16 351 

1864. Battle of Cold Harbor, Va., June 3 351 

1864. Battle of Piedmont, Va., June 5 351 

1864. Destruction of the Alabama by the Kcarsarge, June 19... 361 

1864. Battle of Kenesaw Mountain, Ga., June 27 340 

1864. Battle of Monocacy, Md., July 9 354 

1864. Mine explosion before Petersburg, Va., July 30 354 

1864. Farragut's battle in Mobile Bay, August 5 359 

1864. Atlanta, Ga., captured, September 2 340 

1864. Capture of the Florida, October 7 361 

1864. Battle of Cedar Creek, Va., October ig 355 

1864. Destruction of the Albemarle, October 27 362 

1864. Nevada admitted to the Union, October 31 363 

1864. Atlanta burned, November 16 344 

1864. Savannah, Ga., captured, December 20 346 

1865. Fort Fisher captured, January 15 366 

1865. Columbus, S. C, burned, February 17 369 

1865. Charleston, S. C, evacuated, Feburary 18 369 

1865. Battles of Averysboro and Bentonville, N. C, March 15, 

18 369 

1865. Battle of Five Forks, Va., April i 375 

1865. Assault of the Confederate front, April 2 375 

1865. Fall of Richmond, April 3 376 

1865. Lee surrendered at Appomattox, April 9 381 

1865. President Lincoln assassinated, April 14 382 

1865. General Johnston surrendered, April 26 383 

1865. General Taylor surrendered. May 4 383 

1865. General Kirby Smith surrendered, May 26 383 



3aG 8CU00L Hli^TOIiY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

PART VI. 

Reunion and Progress (1865-1901.) 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

JOHNSON'S ADMINISTRATION. (1865-1869.) 

The Cost of the War The statistics of the War be- 
tween the States are too vast for us to grasp. From the 
opening to the close, over 3,000,000 men were engaged in 
fighting. Those who died in battle from wounds, from dis- 
ease and from the result of exposure must have been nearly 
1,000,000 in number, — the awful cost in human lives of 
one of the most stupendous struggles of modern times. 
The public debt of the United States at the close of the war 
was $2,750,000,000. The loss of the Confederate States in 
property can never be correctly arid fully estimated ; the 
4,000,000 slaves were liberated without compensation to the 
owners, entailing a loss of over $3,000,000,000 of property; 
the entire currency, and the bonds of the Confederacy, and 
of the States were wiped out, and the banks all wrecked ; 
the railway companies all went into bankruptcy ; wide 
regions of country were laid waste ; in them farming utensils 
were destroyed, horses, mules and stock of every descrip- 
tion carried ofif or shot, mills burned, business of every kind 
wrecked, and the means of obtaining a livelihood, for the 
time, utterly blotted out. 

Disbanding of the Armies At the time when the 

great war ended there were 1,000.000 Federal soldiers under 
arms. They were veteran soldiers long unaccustomed to 
the restraints of civil law. The rest of the cQuntry would 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 397 

have been powerless before sueh a mighty host. Many 
were poor and impoverished, but within the same year that 
saw the end of hostiUtics all these soldiers had laid aside 
their deadly weapons and were giving themselves to the 
pursuits of peace. Civilization never saw such a sight as 
this noiseless dissolving of these armed hosts, and their 
transformation into quiet, orderly, law-abiding citizens, 
except the grander sight displayed by the conduct of the 
returned Confederate soldiers. 7'liese last, with fortunes 
ruined, hopes blighted, plans all frustrated, and subjected 
to all sorts of petty annoyances by Provost guards, Freed- 
mcn's Bureau agents, and the swarm of hungry " Carpet- 
baggers " who came South to devour the little the war had 
left, instead of sitting down to rake in the ashes of the past, 
speedily went to work in the corn, tobacco, and cotton- 
fields, in the factories and workshops, in the professions, in 
whatever vocation honest industry could make a living. 

The waste places of the South 
have been built up, her in- 
dustries have prospered, her 
deserts now " bloom and blos- 
som as the rose," and this 
changed result is due (far more 
than to any other causes save 
God's blessing) to the brain 
and brawn of " the men who 
wore the gray." 

Andrew Johnson. — An- 
drew Johnson, who, thrcagh 
the assassination of President 
Lincoln, became the seventeenth President of the United 
States, was born at Raleigh, N. C, December 29, 1808. His 
family were too poor to send him to school, and at the age 
of ten he was apprenticed to a tailor. He spent his leisure 




398 SCHOOL UimORY OF TEE UNITED STATES. 

time in learning to read, and, having married a most estima- 
ble woman, he received great help from her. He became 
interested in politics. Having removed to Greenville, 
Tenn., he was successively alderman, Mayor, member of the 
Legislature, Governor, and, in 1843, was sent to Congress. 
He also served as United States Senator. Although a 
Democrat in politics, he was so decided in his Union senti- 
ments that he was placed on the ticket with Lincoln in 1864 
and elected Vice-President. He died July 31, 1875. 

Reconstruction. — The problem that now confronted 
the government was the proper method of adjusting the 
relationship of the States that had seceded from the Union. 
In some of them, so-called State governments had been 
formed, under the protection of the advancing Federal ar- 
mies. The President recognized these bogus State govern- 
ments, and appointed provisional Governors in the rest, 
with authority to call conventions and organize " loyal " 
governments. Such conventions were called, the best peo- 
ple being disfranchised under arbitrary restrictions put on 
suffrage. They repealed the ordinances of secession, repu- 
diated the Confederate war debt, and ratified the Thirteenth 
Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished African 
slavery. When these conditions were met, the President 
claimed that, inasmuch as the revolting States had never 
been legally out of the Union, they were entitled to all their 
former rights and privileges. An amnesty was proclaimed 
on Christmas day, 1868, but it excluded from its benefits a 
number of classes of Confederates. 

Congress, however, quickly joined issue with the Presi- 
dent. That body claimed that it was its right, and not the 
President's, to prescribe the conditions on which the South- 
ern States should be restored to their old places in the 
LTnion. It demanded that the States should be " recon- 
structed." Their governments were set aside, and their 



400 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Congressmen refused admission. Congress held that these 
States were in the situation of conquered provinces. As a 
condition to their restoration to their former privileges they 
were required to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment to the 
Constitution. This amendment conferred civil rights upon 
the negro, prohibited the payment of any portion of the 
Confederate war debt, and placed the public debt of the 
United States beyond cavil. 

Only Tennessee, at first, ratified the Fourteenth Amend- 
ment to the Constitution, and was admitted into the Union 
July 24th, 1866, by a special act of Congress. 

In December, 1866, Congress passed an act setting aside 
the Provisional State Governments established by the Presi- 
dent, creating five Military Districts, and appointing Mili- 
tary Governors to rule over all of the seceded States except 
Tennessee. These Military Governors were given almost 
absolute power, and were directed to take steps to organize 
" loyal " — that is, " Republican " — State Governments. 

March 27th, 1867, Congress passed over the President's 
veto a new " Reconstruction " act, which required the Mili- 
tary Governors to register the voters of each State and 
administer to each candidate for office the " Ironclad 
Oath " — that is, requiring each one to swear that he " had 
given neither aid nor comfort to the Rebellion." The re- 
sult of these measures was that the officers were either 
" Carpet-baggers " — that is, men who came from the North 
bringing their worldly possessions in a carpet-bag — or 
negroes, few of whom could take that oath without com- 
mitting perjury, as nearly all of them did " give aid and 
comfort to the Rebellion " — or " scalawags," as native 
whites who took the oath were called. 

Conventions in each State, largely composed of these 
three classes, foisted on the people the most objectionable 
Constitutions. 



SCHOOL Hl;STORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 401 

In 1868, Arkansas, Louisiana, South Carolina, Florida, 
Alabama, and North Carolina having (under the rule of 
their " Carpet-bag," " Scalawag," Negro Conventions) rati- 
fied the Fourteenth Amendment, and adopted State Consti- 
tutions acceptable to the Radical Republicans who ruled in 
Washington, were admitted into the Union again. Texas, 
Georgia, Mississippi, and Virginia not having fully com- 
plied with the terms laid down, were kept still under mili- 
tary rule, and were finally required, in addition to previous 
conditions, to adopt, also, the Fifteenth Amendment, which 
fastened on them and the other States negro suffrage, and 
gave Congress the right to enforce it. 

Impeachment of the President The fight between 

Congress and the President went on with increasing bitter- 
ness, until at last the Radicals determined to get rid of him 
by impeachment. 

To impeach a President is simply to charge him with 
wrong-doing in his oflfice. Before he can be displaced, he 
must be tried and found guilty of violation of the laws. 
The House of Representatives draws the articles of im- 
peachment, and the United States Senate is the body before 
which the trial must be held, the Chief Justice of the United 
States acting as presiding officer. The trial lasted thirty- 
two days. A two-thirds vote was necessary to convict. 
The President escaped conviction by one vote, and on the 
5th of June, 1867, Chief Justice Chase ordered a verdict of 
acquittal to be entered. 

Purchase of Alaska By a treaty with Russia, March 

30, 1867, the United States secured that stretch of territory 
in the Northwest which had been known as Russian Amer- 
ica, and is now called Alaska. The price paid was 
$7,200,000. The country has a hilly surface, with an 
abimdance of timber. The fisheries and fur trade are of 
enormous value. The discovery of large deposits of gold 



402 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

and other metals has greatly stimulated immigration, and 
increased the population and importance of the territory. 
Expulsion of the French from Mexico. — One of the 

most persistent foes of the Federal Government was Louis 
Napoleon, Emperor of France. He continually urged 
England to join him in the recognition of the Southern 
Confederacy. Finally, he decided to establish an empire in 
Mexico. He saw that the hands of the United States were 
too full in prosecuting the war for the subjugation of the 
South to enforce the Monroe doctrine. Napoleon offered 
the position of Emperor of Mexico to Maximilian, an Arch- 
duke of Austria. This amiable, but weak, man was made 
to believe that it was the wish of the Mexican people that 
he should reign over them. 

When he reached Mexico, however, he saw he had made 
a fatal mistake, or, rather, the French Emperor had de- 
ceived him. The majority of Mexicans were opposed to 
him, and a revolution was under way. About this time, the 
War between the States having ended, Napoleon was noti- 
fied by the United States that he must withdraw his troops 
from Mexico and respect the Monroe doctrine. He was 
quick to obey, and left Maximilian to his fate. The Aus- 
trian made the best fight he could, but the Mexicans were 
too strong for him. He was surrounded and forced to sur- 
render May 15, 1867. He and his two leading generals 
were shot on the 19th of June, and thus the projected 
Empire in America came to an end. 

Release of President Jefferson Davis When Rich- 
mond fell and General Lee surrendered, Jefiferson Davis 
and his cabinet retreated southward. On the loth of May 
he and several of his friends were captured and afterwards 
imprisoned in Fortress Monroe, where he was treated with 
a cruelty as shameful as it was unnecessary. 

General Nelson A. Miles, who was in command of Fort- 



srnoOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



403 



ress Monroe, subjected the (listin,G^uishe(l prisoner to many- 
petty annoyances, and insults, and finally had him ironed 
in his casement. 

It was at first intended to try President Davis by a Mili- 
tary Court on the charge of complicity in the assassination 
of President Lincoln, or on that of cruelty to Federal pris- 




WHITE HOUSE OF THE CONFEDERACY, RICHMOND. 

{Now Confederate Museum and Memorial Hall?) 

oners. But after the most diligent investigation there could 
be found no proof on either of these charges upon which 
"the Bureau of Military Justice" — even with their band 
of trained perjurers — dared to go into a trial. 

The infamous Judge Underwood succeeded in getting 
a mixed Grand Jury — composed of negroes and whites — 
to find an indictment for " Treason " against Jefferson 



404 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Davis, R. E. Lee, and other Confederate leaders. General 
Grant, to his honor be it said, " quashed " the proceedings 
against General Lee by insisting that by the terms of his 
surrender and parole he was exempt from all prosecution. 

Mr. Davis and his able counsel — Charles O'Conor, of 
New York, being one of them — did all in their power to 




UNITED STATES TREASURY, WASHINGTO^f. 

(Begun, iSsb; finished. 1842: extensiotis, iSbQ.) 

hasten his trial. On the 13th of May, 1867, the distin- 
guished prisoner was released on a bail of $100,000, Horace 
Greeley, of New York, among others, going on the bond. 
The trial of Mr. Davis was postponed from time to time, 
and finally abandoned, February 6, 1869, because the ablest 
lawyers at the North, Chief Justice Chase at their head, 
gave it as their opinion that he could not be convicted 
under the Constitution of the United States. 



SCHOOL JIlSTOh'Y OF THE UNITED STATES. 



405 



Admission of Nebraska Nebraska was admitted to 

the Union, March i, 1867, making the thirty-seventli State. 
Although one of the youngest States, it speedily took rank 
among the foremost in the production of wheat and corn, 
and in stock raising. 

Questions. — Give an idea of the cost of the war in life and 
mone3\ Give a sketch of the seventeenth President. Explain his 
course on reconstruction. What was done by Congress? What is 
said of the Fourteenth Amendment? Give a history of the im- 
peachment of President Johnson. What can you tell about Alaska? 
Give a history of the attempt to found a French empire in Me.xico. 
What is related concerning Jefferson Davis? What have you to 
say of Nebraska? 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

GRANT'S ADMINISTRATION. (1869-1877.) 

U. S. Grant The popu- 
larity of General Grant as a 
military hero caused his elec- 
tion to the Presidency in 1868 
by an overwhelming majority. 
Schuyler Colfax, Speaker of the 
House of Representatives, was 
elected Vice-President, the two 
defeating the Democratic can- 
didates, ex-Governor Horatio 
Seymour, of New York, and 
General Francis P. Blair, of 
Missouri. The eighteenth 
President of the United States was born at Point Pleasant, 
Ohio, April 22, 1822. His parents removed from that place 
the following year to the village of Georgetown, in the same 
State, where young Grant passed his boyhood. At the age 
of seventeen, he was appointed a cadet to the West Point 




406 SCHOOL BItiTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Military Academy, where he graduated twenty-first in a 
class of thirty-nine. His given name was Hirarn Ulysses, 
but his appointment was made out in the name of Ulysses 
Sim-pson, which name he afterwards retained. 

Lieutenant Grant first saw fighting in Mexico, where he 
did fine service, being breveted captain for gallantry. He 
entered the War between the States as captain of a com- 
pany of Illinoi's volunteers raised by himself. The Gover- 
nor soon appointed him Colonel, and in August, 1861, he 
was promoted to Brigadier-General. In his first battle at 
Belmont. Mo., his horse was shot under him. He attracted 
the attention of the whole country by his brilliant capture of 
Forts Henry, and Donelson, which were the first decisive 
Federal victories of the war. The terrific battle of Pitts- 
burg Landing followed, and thenceforward his history be- 
came closely interwoven with that of the war in which he 
bore such a prominent part. He died July 23, 1885, at 
Mount McGregor, N. Y., after suffering for weeks with a 
cancerous affection of the tongue. 

The Union Pacific Railway — The first event of public 
importance in the early days of Grant's administrations was 
the completion of the Union Pacific Railway. This great 
work was begun in 1863, but, because of the war, little was 
done during the first two years. With the close of the 
war, the work was pushed with vigor, and, on the lOth. of 
May, 1869, the last rail connecting the line from the east 
with the line from the west was laid, and the last spike, 
which was made of solid gold, was driven in place. 

The Fifteenth Amendment The Fifteenth Amend- 
ment to the Constitution gives to the negro the right to 
vote. It was proposed during the last days of Johnson's 
administration, and declared ratified March 30. 1870. 

"Black Friday," — The efforts of a syndicate of New 
York speculators to raise the price of gold until they could 



SCHOOL BIHTORY OF THE VXITED .ST.17'£.S'. 407 

sell their holdings at enormous profit so far succeeded chat 
on Friday, September the 24th, 1869, gold went up $1.64 
for one dollar of paper money, all stocks declined, large 
fortunes were wrecked, the " Exchange " was a pandemon- 
ium indeed, some men became insane and were taken to 
asylums, and others died from excitement. 

The panic was only stopped by the announcement that 
the United States would sell gold from the $100,000,000 
which it had in its vaults. 

The syndicate of speculators cleared over $11,000,000, 
but the indignation against them was so intense that they 
had to hide themselves for a time. 

The Alabama Claims We have learned that it was 

charged that England did a great deal to help the Confed- 
erate privateers during the war. For this, the United 
States now called her to account. It was not England's 
sense of justice that led her to consider these claims, so 
much as the fear that if she did not, sometime in the future 
we might retaliate. A joint high commission, composed of 
five British and five American statesmen, met in Washing- 
ton, February 27, 1871, and made a treaty, May 26, agree- 
ing to arbitration. 

The arbitration tribunal met at Geneva, June 15, 1872. 
On the 14th of September, this tribunal decided that Eng- 
land should pay to the United States the sum of $15,500,000 
for damages inflicted upon Northern commerce by the Con- 
federate cruisers. 

Presidential Election of 1872 The Presidential 

election of 1872 was a singular one. President Grant was 
renominated by the Republicans, Henry Wilson taking the 
place of Schuyler Colfax for the Vice-Presidency. Horace 
Greeley, who had spent most of his life fighting the Demo- 
crats, now became their nominee for the highest office in 
the gift of the American people. Many of the radical 



408 f^CnOOL HLSTORY OF THE UNITED STATEH. 

Democrats refused to support his noniiuation which was 
first made by the " Liberal RepubHcans." The regular 
Republican ticket carried thirty-one States. Mr. Greeley 
was so crushed by his overwhelming defeat that he lost his 
reason and died within a month after the election. 

Trouble With the Modocs The Modoc Indians, 

when removed from fertile and fine hunting grounds south 
of Oregon to a reservation which was sterile, and very dis- 
tasteful to them, revolted and fled back to their former 
hunting grounds. Though only a few hundred in number, 
they defied the United States to remove them, took refuge 
in some lava-beds just over the frontier in Northern Cali- 
fornia, and long resisted successfully the troops who sur- 
rounded them. 

At a conference held under a flag of truce, April nth, 
1873, the Modocs suddenly attacked the white men, killed 
General Edward S. Canby and Dr. Thomas, and severely 
wounded General Meachem. Operations against the 
Modocs were now pressed with the utmost vigor, and 
finally they were compelled to surrender. The three chiefs 
responsible for the murder of the commissioners were exe- 
cuted October 3. 

War With the Sioux In 1876, these fierce warriors 

of the Northwest begun a war against the settlers in Wyom- 
ing and Montana, under Sitting Bull, and other chiefs, and 
Generals Terry and Crook went against them. 

While the campaign was in progress. Generals Custer and 
Reno rode forward with the Seventh Cavalry to discover 
where the hostiles were. They were found encamped in a 
large village, nearly three miles long, on the left bank of the 
Little Big Horn river. Custer recklessly charged upon the 
village without waiting for reinforcements. The Indians 
assailed his soldiers in overwhelming numbers and massa- 
cred every man. General Reno held his position at the 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 409 

lower end of the encanipnient until General Gibbon arrived 
with reinforcements, and saved what was left of his men. 
The loss of the Seventh Cavalry was 261 killed, and fifty- 
two wounded. This massacre occurred June 25, 1876. 

The Centennial Exhibition The centennial of 

American independence was fittingly celebrated by an in- 
ternational exhibition at Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. 
The expense of the exhibition was estimated at $8,500,000. 
Of this amount, the city of Philadelphia gave $1,500,000, 
and the State of Pennsylvania, $1,000,000, while $2,500,000 
was raised by the sale of stock. Other States aided, and 
Congress appropriated $1,500,000. The whole sum needed 
was secured before the date fixed for the opening. The 
principal foreign nations accepted invitations to participate 
m the celebration, suitable buildings were erected, and 
President Grant opened the exhibition May loth, 1876, and 
closed it six months later. 

Admission of Colorado Colorado, the thirty-eighth 

State, was received March 3, 1875, but its Constitution was 
not ratified by the people until July i, 1876. From this fact 
it is sometimes known as the " Centennial State." 

Presidential Election of 1876 The Presidential 

election of 1876 was one of the most trying in the history of 
the country, which was brought to the verge of civil war. 
An attempt was made to renominate General Grant for a 
third term, but it failed, and Rutherford P). Hayes, of Ohio, 
was put forward as the Republican candidate, with William 
A. Wheeler, of New York, as the nominee for the Vice- 
Presidency. The Democratic candidates were Samuel J. 
Tilden, of New York, and Thomas A. Hendricks, of In- 
diana. 

For a number of days after the election the Democrats 
and Republicans each claimed the victory. In four States 
the result was disputed, viz. : Louisiana, South Carolina, 



410 SCHOOL History of the united states. 

Florida, and Oregon. It was necessary for the Republi- 
cans to secure all these in order to carry the election, for 
Tilden's unquestioned vote was 184, and one more would 
elect him. 

In this crisis, Congress, after much discussion, passed a 
bill creating an Electoral Commission to decide the dis- 
puted points. This tribunal consisted of five Senators, ap- 
pointed by the Vice-President (three Republicans and two 
Democrats) ; five Representatives, appointed by the Speaker 
(three Democrats and two Republicans), and five judges of 
the Supreme Court (three Republicans and two Democrats). 
This, as will be noticed, made the commission to consist of 
eight Republicans and seven Democrats. On the 2d of 
March, two days before the inauguration, this commission, 
by a strict party vote, declared the Republican candidates 
elected. 

The Reign of the Carpet=Bagger Grant began his 

administration with the oft quoted declaration, " Let us 
have peace." But he kept his soldiers in the South, and he 
was ready to send them to the polls whenever a " Carpet- 
bagger," or a " Scalawag " found this necessary to perpetu- 
ate the rule of the Republican party. " Loyol Leagues " had 
been instituted by partisan leaders in order that these secret 
societies might control and direct the negro vote. 

In order to counteract these evil influences, and to de- 
stroy, as far as possible, the baleful efifects of negro and 
carpet-bag supremacy, there was instituted all through the 
South the " Ku Klux Clan.'" At first these were simply 
local organizations designed to protect the people from the 
pillage, and other outrages of the negroes, who, under their 
false guides, were ready for almost anything that would 
injure the true people of the South, and perpetuate the 
reign of the carpet-baggers. 

These local secret organizations (under such names as 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE VlsUTED STATES. 411 

" The Pale Faces," " The Invisible Empire," " Knights of 
the White Camelia," etc.) grew into societies best known 
as the " Kin Klux Klaii," pervaded the South generally, and 
were very powerful in resisting the " Loyal Leagues," pro- 
tecting the property of citizens, and influencing the negro 
vote. 

These organizations operated generally in the night, and 
by their strange dress, and mysterious movements so ter- 
rified the superstitious .negroes as to be able largely to 
control them. 

The Corruption of Public Men. — Never before in the 
history of the Republic were there developed such frauds 
and corruption in public office as during the two terms of 
Grant's administration. 

In the building of the Union Pacific Railroad there was 
formed a corporation called the Credit Mobilicr to promote 
the interests of that great enterprise, and it was charged 
that Vice-President Schuyler Colfax, Vice-President-elect 
Henry Wilson, Secretary of War Belknap, and a number of 
Senators and Representatives had accepted shares in the 
Credit Mobilier as bribes for their influence in such legisla- 
tion as was desired for the Union Pacific Railway. 

The public clamor about this — especially by the Demo- 
crats in the campaign of 1872 — was so great that Congress 
ordered an investigation, and proofs against many of those 
named were very strong, but the committee of partisans 
only found Oakes Ames, and James Brooks guilty, and 
" whitewashed " the others. 

The " Back Salary Grab," as it was generally termed, was 
a law passed by Congress in 1872 raising the salary of the 
President from $25,000 to $50,000 per annum, increasing 
the salaries of other oiificers, and raising that of a Congress- 
man from $5000 to $7500, and making this advance l)egin 
with the current term. 



412 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

This act created such general indignation, and such severe 
criticism throughout the country that many of the Con- 
gressmen dechned to take their back pay, and the act was 
soon repealed except as to the salaries of the President, and 
the Justices of the Supreme Court. 

The whiskey frauds against the Government were enor- 
mous during this administration, and for a long time " the 
Whiskey Ring " — a combination between Internal Reve- 
nue officers and Western Distillers — defied the efforts of 
Secretary of the Treasury Bristow to unearth them. 
Finally, however, some of the leading members of the Ring 
were tried, convicted, and sent to the Penitentiary. 

Members of the Cabinet were charged openly with re- 
ceiving bribes, and in 1876 Secretary of War Belknap was 
impeached for taking pay for his appointments to office — 
selling the patronage which he had to bestow. The proof 
against him was conclusive, but he was allowed to escape 
punishment by resignation as Secretary of War. 

A Great Financial Crisis.— The failure for $15,000,000 
of Jay Cooke's Bank in Philadelphia, in 1873, which was 
caused by inability to realize on the bonds of the Northern 
Pacific Railway, which it held, and the consequent failure 
of a number of smaller Banks, was the beginning of one of 
the greatest financial panics ever witnessed in the country. 
A series of poor crops, the lavish expenditure of money 
caused by the war and its results, the extravagant building 
of railways and expenditures in other enterprises, the con- 
traction of the currency, and the demonetization of silver, 
all combined to bring about and extend this panic, which 
was keenly felt by all classes, but more especially by the 
poor. Thousands were thrown out of employment, the 
sufifering was very great, and " the panic of 1873 " will 
not be forgotten by those who felt it, or witnessed its 
effects. 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



413 



The Demonetization of Silver The silver dollar was 

the original standard by which all values were measured in 
the United States, but in 1873 Congress made the gold 
dollar the standard, and silver was no longer a legal tender. 

Questions. — Give a biographical sketch of the eighteenth Presi- 
dent. What is said of the Fifteenth Amendment? What is meant 
by the "Alabama Claims?" How were they settled? What is 
said of the Presidential election of 1872? Trouble with the 
Modocs? What is said of the Sioux Indians? What is said of the 
Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia? What have you to tell 
about Colorado? What is said of the Presidential election of 
1876? The Kill Klux Clan? The Credit Mohilier? " Back Salary 
Grab?" Whiskey frauds? Causes of the panic of 1873? 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 
HAYES'S ADMINISTRATION. 1877-1881.) 

R. B. Hayes Rutherford 

B. Hayes, nineteenth President 
of the United States, was born 
in Delaware, Ohio, October 4, 
1822. He graduated from 
Kenyon College at the ag^ of 
twenty, and completed his 
legal studies at Harvard Uni- 
versity. He began the prac- 
tice of law at Marietta, but 
removed to Fremont, and 
finally to Cincinnati. He did 
good service in the war be- 
tween the States, and rose to the rank of Major-General. 
He was Congressman in 1865, and was chosen Governor of 
Ohio three times. He died at Fremont, Ohio, January 17, 
1893. 

Withdrawal of Troops From the South President 

Haves, at the outset of his administration, seemed actuated 




414 SCHOOL IIIHTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

by a desire to help the era of good feeling between the 
North and South. One member of his cabinet had served 
the Confederacy during the war. An important act was the 
withdrawal of troops from the Southern States. Many of 
his supporters opposed this step, but it proved decidedly 
beneficial. 

Labor Troubles Labor strikes, more or less serious, 

have often occurred. The most alarming of them broke 
out in the summer of 1877, and was known as the Great 
Railway strike. One hundred thousand laborers engaged 
in this great strike, and at one time 6000 miles of railway 
were tied up. It all ended, however, within a month, and 
all of the roads were running on schedule time. 

Trouble With the Nez Perces Indians. — In a war 
with these Indians in 1877, General Howard found Chief 
Joseph able and skillful, and only succeeded in forcing him 
to terms after he had retreated 1300 miles to the Bear Paw 
mountains. Some years later the tribe was returned to the 
neighborhood of their old home, and have since been con- 
tented and prosperous. 

Remonetizing of Silver In 1878, Congress passed 

the " Bland Silver bill," which restored the white metal to 
its old place as a " legal tender." and as a part of the " coin " 
in which the Government could pay its obligations. An 
amendment to this bill was adopted requiring the Secretary 
of the Treasury to have coined every month not less than 
$2,000,000, and not more than $4,000,000 in silver. 

Resumption of Specie Payments. — The universal de- 
sire was for the resumption of specie payments. The value 
of the paper dollar steadily increased, as the public debt was 
reduced, and Congress, by an act in 1875. fixed January i, 
1879, as the date on which specie payments would be re- 
sumed. At that time there was an accumulation of $138,- 
000,000, mostly gold, in the United States treasury, while 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



415 



the outstanding bonds amounted to $1,600,000,000. This 
fact so strengthened pubhc credit that on the ist of January, 
1879, only $11,000,000 were offered for redemption. 

Presidential Election of 1880 A determined effort 

was made to renominate General Grant for a third term, but 
it failed. The Republican nominees were James A. Gar- 
field, of Ohio, and Chester A. Arthur, of New York. The 
Democratic candidates were General Winfield S. Hancock, 
of Pennsylvania, and William H. English, of Indiana. The 
Republican ticket was successful. 

Questions. — Give a biographical sketch of the nineteenth Presi- 
dent. What is said of the labor troubles in 1877? What is said of 
the Nez Perces Indians? Tell of the remonetizing of silver. 
Show how specie payments were resumed. Presidential election 
of i88o. 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

GARFIELD'S AND ARTHUR'S ADMINISTRATION. 
C1881-1885.) 

James A. Garfield — James 
Abram Garfield, twentieth 
President of the United States, 
was born in Orange Township, 
Ohio, November 19, 1831. 
His father died while the son 
\vas in his infancy, and his care 
devolved upon his mother, 
who was 'a most excellent 
woman. His boyhood in the 
backwoods gave him robust 
health. He developed great 
mechanical skill, and his ser- 
vices while a boy were much sought by the farmers of the 
neighborhood. For a time he was driver of a canal boat. 




416 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



At the age of seventeen he attended the high school in Ches- 
ter, became a student at Hiram College, and afterward an 
instructor in the institution. He graduated with honor 
from Williams College in 1856, became president of Hiram 
College, which place he resigned in order to enter the mili- 
tary service at the breaking out of the War between the 
States. He acquitted himself brilliantly, and became brig- 
adier-general. 

Assassination of President Garfield — On the 26. of 
July, 1881, President Garfield, accompanied by Secretary 
Blaine and some friends, rode to the Baltimore railway sta- 
tion in Washington to take the cars for Elberon, N. J. He 
entered the station, and was talking with Mr. Blaine, when 
a miscreant, named Charles J. Guiteau, standing directly 
behind the President, fired a pistol at him. The wounded 
President was carried to the Executive Mansion, and after 
much suffering died on the night of September 19th at 
Elberon. Guiteau was convicted and executed. 

Chester A. Arthur. — 
Chester Alan Arthur who thus 
became the twenty-first Presi- 
dent, was born at Fairfield, Vt., 
October 5, 1830, and died Oc- 
tober 28, 1888. He graduated 
at Union College in 1849. 
After teaching school for some 
time, he came to New York 
city to study law. During the 
war he held the office of 
quartermaster-general of the 
State of New York, and for 
seven years held the position of collector of customs for the 
oort. He had hardly resumed his law practice, when he 
was called to enter the Presidential election of 1880. 




SCHOOL HISTOIfY OF THE UNITED ST.lTEi^. 417 

The Yorktown Centennial. — Inasmuch as the struff- 

o 

glc for American independence was extended over a period 
of seven or eight years, the centennial celebrations lasted 
for a considerable time. The one most worthy of note was 
held at Yorktown, \a., in the month of October, 1881. 
Among the distinguished visitors were the President of the 
United States, the Governors of most of the States, leading 
military men, and representatives from Great Britain, Ger- 
many, and France. At the close of the celebration, where 
the pride of England iiad been humbled to the dust by 
Washington, the British flag was run up by order of Presi- 
dent Arthur, and a military salute fired in its honor. 

The Brooklyn Bridge. — On May 24. 1883, the line 
structure known as the Brooklyn bridge was opened for 
travel. The main span is 1595 feet and one-half long, and 
the two land spans 930 feet each. The masonry approach 
on the New York side is 1562 feet, and on the Brooklyn 
side 971 feet, making the total distance more than a mile. 
The middle of the bridge is 135 feet above water. It is the 
largest suspension bridge in the world. 

The Northern Pacific Railway — The Northern Pa- 
cific Railway was finished August 22, 1883. 

Arctic Explorations. — In 1879, the Nczv York Herald 
fitted out the steamer Jcanncttc to sail through Behring 
Straits and explore the Arctic ocean. In 1881 this ship 
was crushed by the ice. Some of the crew reached Siberia, 
where most of them perished of starvation, and a few of the 
survivors afterwards reached home. 

July 7th, 1881, Lieutenant A. W. Greely, commanding a 
/essel fitted out by the United States Government, sailed 
f\om St. John's to establish a scientific colony on Lady 
Franklin Bay, in Grinnell land. The party consisted of 
twenty men, and pushed through the ice fields with heroic 
daring and patient endurance of hardship and suffering. 



418 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



They established a signal station, called Fort Conger, on 
Lady Franklin Bay, and sent an expedition along the 
northern coast of Greenland. About the middle of May, 
1882, Lieutenant James B. Lockwood and Sergeant David 
L. Brainerd reached tJic highest latitude ever attained by 
man, at that time. 










BROOKLYN BRIDGE. 
Begun, iSyo; fiuislied, 1SS3: cost, ■$ 1 J ,000,000. 

Returning to Fort Conger, the explorers found no pro- 
visions, as the vessel sent to their relief in 1883 ^''^'^l been 
crushed in the ice, and the crew forced to return to a ship 
that had accompanied them part of the way and waited to 
help them in case of need. Another expedition sent out in 
the summer of 1884 succeeded in finding Lieutenant Greely 
and six of his companions, who alone had survived. 



SCnOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 419 

Other Events of This Administration. — The " star 
route f rands,'' which were discovered in 1881, and by which 
the Government lost several million dollars, were investi- 
gated without fixing the guilt on any one. 

In 1883, Congress passed a '" Civil Service Reform " bill, 
which looked to filling offices on turrit rather than as a re- 
ward for political services, and without regard to the poli- 
tics of the applicant ; but although there has been some 
high praise bestowed upon the law by leaders in both 
parties it has been steadily ignored or evaded by the 
politicians. 

The Tariff was slightly lowered in 1883, and postage on 
letters reduced from three to two cents on each half 
ounces. 

The Cotton Exposition at Atlanta, Ga., in 1881, showed the 
rapidity with which the Southern States were recuperating 
from the desolations of war and the pillage of " Recon- 
struction." 

Presidential Election of 1884. — The Democratic can- 
didates in the Presidential election of 1884 were Grover 
Cleveland, of New York, and Thomas A. Hendricks, of In- 
diana. The Republican candidates were James G. Blaine, 
of Maine, and General John A. Logan, of Illinois. The 
Democrats made the fight chiefly on the issue of civil ser- 
vice reform, while the tariff was the main argument of the 
Republicans. The Southern issue no longer entered into 
the Presidential contests. The diversity of views on the 
tariff and civil service reform is so great in both parties that 
the distinction between the political faith of a Democrat, 
and that of a Republican is less perceptible than ever before. 
Many prominent Republican papers supported the Demo- 
cratic ticket, which was elected. 

Questions Give a biographical sketch of the twentieth Presi- 
dent. Describe the assassination and death of President Garfield. 



420 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Give a biographical sketch of the twenty-first President. Give a 
description of the Yorktown Centennial. What of Arctic explora- 
tions? Other events of this administration? Presidential election 
of 1884? 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 



CLEVELAND'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION. (1885-1889.) 

Grover Cleveland Giover 

Cleveland, twenty - second 
President of the United States, 
was born at Caldwell, N. J., 
March 18, 1837. He received 
his education in the public 
schools, and became a teacher 
in an institution for the blind 
in CHnton, N. Y. Removing 
to Bufifalo in 1855, he soon 
ranked among the leaders at 
the bar in that city. He was 
assistant district attorney in 
1863, and was elected sheriff of the county in 1870. His 
popularity made him mayor of Buffalo in 1881, although 
the city was strongly Republican in politics. His prodi- 
gious majority in 1882, when chosen Governor of the State 
of New York, attracted national attention, and brought 
about his nomination for the Presidency in ■1884. 

Civil Service Reform Having received the support 

of many committed to " civil service reform," President 
Cleveland did not ignore his obligations to these support- 
ers. He made a strong effort in that direction. Despite 
the clamor of office-seekers, he retained in position proba- 
bly one-half, if not more, of the Republicans that had dis- 
charged their duties satisfactorily. 




SCHOOL iiisTonv or riih: v sited states:. 421 

The Cotton Centennial Exposition. — The first ex- 
portation of American cotton for foreign consumption was 
in 1784. To commemorate the event in a fitting manner, 
Congress, in February, 1883, passed an act authorizing the 
holding of an industrial exposition in New Orleans. The 
United States loaned the organization $1,000,000, and 
$500,000 more was secured by subscriptions to the stock. 
The exposition was opened December 16, 1884. 

The Chicago Anarchists. — On the ist of May, 1886, 
40,000 laborers in Chicago went on a strike on a demand 
that eight hours should constitute a day's work. As is al- 
ways the case, a number of anarchist disturbers took advan- 
tage of the excitement. While the police of Chicago were 
attempting to disperse a crowd of these people on the even- 
ing of May 4, a bomb was exploded by the anarchists 
among the officers. Its effect was fearful. Seven police- 
men were killed, eleven crippled for life, and a dozen badly 
injured. The leaders were arrested and brought to trial. 
Seven were condemned to death. 

The Charleston Earthquake. — The whole Union was 
startled on the last day of summer and the beginning of 
autumn, 1886, by a series of earthquake shocks, the most 
violent known in the history of our country. It Avas 10 
o'clock at night, August 31, when the city of Richmond, 
Va., was strongly shaken. The convicts in the peniteniiary 
became so panic-stricken that the militia had to be sum- 
moned to subdue them. The alarm continued throughout 
the night. 

Charleston, S. C, however, endured the most startling 
visitation. The cutting of telegraphic communication with 
the city on the night of August 31 caused the fear that it 
had been utterly destroyed. When the shocks gradu- 
ally ceased, it was found that more than a hundred persons 
had been killed, and fully two-thirds of the city required 
rebuilding. 



422 >SVHOOL IJlt^TOm' OF THE UNITED .STATES. 

Conquest of the Apaches. —An important work was 
accomplished by the army during the sunniier of 1885 in 
the conquest of the Apache Indians of the Southwest. 
After a long and a fierce contest, in which the American 
soldiers learned much of the courage, cunning and powers 
of endurance of the Indians, Geronimo (he-ron'-i-mo), the 



PENSION OFFICE, WASHINGTON, D. C. 

Begun, /SSs/ finished, iSSj. 

able Chief of the Apaches, and his warriors were run down 
and captured. 

Presidential Succession Law The Presidential suc- 
cession law, which was passed in 1886, provides that if, at 
any time, there shall be no President or Vice-President, 
the office of President shall devolve upon the cabinet in the 
following order of succession : the Secretary of State, of the 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



423 



Treasury, and of War, the Attorney-General, the Postmas- 
ter-General, the Secretary of the Navy, of the Interior, and 
of Agriculture. It would seem that it is impossible for a 
contingency to arise in which a special election for Presi- 
dent could be needed. 

Other Important Laws. — In 1886, Congress passed 
an act to regulate the counting of the electoral vote, and to 
prevent a recurrence of the trouble of 1876. The act pro- 
vides for counting first the votes about which there is no 




STATE, WAR ANn NAVV DEPARTMENTS, WASHINGTON, D. C. 

Building begun, i^2: finished, iSSS. 

dispute, and then, in case of disagreement, those to which 
the certificate of the Governor of the State is attached. 

The Interstate Commerce Commission was estab- 
lished in 1887 to regulate commerce between the States, 
and to prevent railroads or steamship companies from dis- 
criminating against any locality in their schedules or their 
charges. 

In the same year Congress passed a more stringent law 
to prevent polygamy. 



424 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

In 1888, a law was passed prohibiting Chinese iiiu)iigra- 
tioii for a period of ten years. 

Tariff Legislation, —In December, 1887, President 
Cleveland, in his message to Congress, clearly bronght out 
the fact that the Internal Revenue on liquors and tobacco, 
and the tarifif on imports, yielded the Government an annual 
surplus of $100,000,000, after meeting all expenses, and he 
recommended such reduction of the Tarifif as would equalize 
the receipts and expenditures of the Government. 

lion Roger Q. Mills, of Texas, introduced a bill, which 
bore his name, intended to carry out the views of the Presi- 
dent and his party. The " Mills bill " passed the House, 
which was Democratic, but was defeated by the Senate, 
which was Republican, and the issue was carried to the 
country in the next Presidential election. 

Presidential Election of 1888 The tariff issue en- 
tered into the election of 1888. The Democrats favored a 
low tarifif, or reduction of the duties on imports, while the 
Republicans advocated a high protective tarifif. The Dem- 
ocratic candidates were, for President, Cleveland, with Allen 
G. Thurman, of Ohio, for Vice-President. The Republi- 
cans nominated and elected Benjamin Harrison, of Indiana, 
and Levi P. Morton, of New York. Harrison received 
233 electoral votes, and Cleveland 168, but the latter had a 
majority of 94,611 of the popular vote. 

Questions. — Give a biographical sketch of the twenty-second 
President. What did the President do in the matter of " civil 
service reform? What startled the whole country, August 31, 
1886? What is said of the Apache Indians? What of the Presi- 
dential succession law? Important laws passed during this admin- 
istration? The Presidential election of 1888? 



tSVllOOL HII^TOin OF THE UNITED STATES. 



425 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 



HARRISON'S ADMINISTRATION. (1889-1893.) 




Benjamin Harrison Ben- 
jamin Harrison, twenty-third 
President of the United States, 
was born at North Bend, Ohio, 
August 20, 1833. He was the 
son of John Scott Harrison, a 
farmer, who was the son of 
WilHam Henry Harrison, ninth 
President. The father of the 
latter was Benjamin Harrison, 
a signer of the Declaration of 
Independence. At the age of 
fourteen, young Benjamin 
Harrison became a student for two years at Farmer's Col- 
lege, and graduated from Miami University in 1852. Upon 
the breaking out of the War between the States he gave up 
his profession of law, and the office of reporter for the Su- 
preme Court of Indiana, to which, he had been elected, and, 
entering the military service, remained to the close of hos- 
tilities. He was commissioned as colonel of the Seventieth 
Indiana Volunteers, and was breveted Brigadier-General 
for ability, and gallantry. Joseph Hooker, Major-General 
commanding, complimented him in high terms. He was a 
model officer, and highly popular with his men. He was 
elected United States Senator in 1880, and served his full 
term, displaying marked ability. He died at Indianapolis 
March 13. 1901. 

Naval Disaster at Samoa On the 15th of March, 

i88y. all the American and German vessels in the harbor of 



426 HCnOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Apia, Samoa, were destroyed or disabled by a terrific liurri- 
cane. They were anchored near each other, and when the 
storm became violent the engines were set to work to re- 
lieve the strain upon the cables. The force of the storm, 
however, caused all to drag their anchors, and they were 
dashed against one another or hurled upon a coral reef on 
the west side of the bay. Nearly 200 lives were lost. 

Oklahoma. — This territory belonged to the Indian 
Territory, but was purchased by the Government in 1889, 
and thrown open for settlement. The rich lands had long 
attracted attention, and when at high noon, April 2d, 1889, 
it was announced that it would now be lawful for settlers to 
enter, fully 50,000 people, who had assembled on the bor- 
der, broke into a frenzied rush and scramble for their 
claims, and in a few hours every available foot of land had 
been taken up. Towns blossomed out in a day, news- 
papers, banks, schools and churches were established, and 
the region where all had been a lonely solitude was filled 
with bustle, haste, business and the crude civilization of 
the border. 

The Johnstown Flood. — On the 31st of May, 1889, a 
fearful disaster befell Johnstown, Pa., and the Conemaugh 
Valley in Western Pennsylvania. The dam of an immense 
reservoir located at the head of. the Valley, and about 275 
feet above the level of Johnstown, which contained some 
30,000 inhabitants, gave way, and the water rushed down, 
and swept everything before it. The loss of^jroperty was 
$10,000,000. The loss of life can never be fully ascertained, 
though the official list of the dead was 2,280. 

Admission of New States North and South Dakota 

were admitted to the Union, November 2, Montana, No- 
vember 8, and Washington, November 11, 1889; Idaho. 
July 13, and Wyoming, July 10, 1890 — so that during 
Harrison's administration the number of States was in- 
creased from thirty-eight to forty-four. 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED HTATIIS. 427 

Pan=American Conference. —The Pan-American (all- 
Anierican) Conference was in session in Washington from 
November 17, 1889, until the 19th of the following April. 
This conference was invited to come together by our Gov- 
ernment, which paid all the expenses. It contained the 
representatives of eighteen countries and 100,000,000 peo- 
ple, who discussed, among other important matters, an 
international railway, an international bank, a general 
recommendation of reciprocity treaties. All the delegates 
signed a treaty of arbitration, which provides that no war 
shall be declared until Pan-American arbitration has failed, 
except when immediate action is necessary. 

Strained Relations Between the United States and 
Italy — At midnight, October 15, 1890, David C. Hen- 
nessy, Chief of Police of New Orleans, was w^aylaid and 
shot down at his own door, and there was every reason to 
believe that the assassins were members of the " Mafia," a 
secret Italian society, against wdiich' the Chief had been 
waging incessant and most successful war. 

The outrage aroused the city, and some fifty Italians 
w'ere arrested, of whom nineteen were indicted. 

Nine were put on trial, and the guilt of five of them 
clearly proven. Nevertheless, six were acquitted. A num- 
ber of the people of the city marched to the jail on the 
morning of March 14, 1891. and lynched eleven of the 
Italian prisoners. Italy demanded reparation for the un- 
lawful outrage, and for a time the relations between the 
two countries were strained. Finally the United States 
paid $20,000 as compensation for the families of the victims. 

Trouble With Chili.— On the i6th of October, 1891, 
some forty men belonging to the crew of the United States 
w-ar steamer Baltimore, lying in the harbor of Valparai.so 
(val-pa-ri' so), Chili, obtained permission to go ashore. 
While there they became involved in a quarrel with some 



428 >^VHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Chilians, and were set upon by an armed mob. Two Amer- 
icans were killed and a number badly wounded. Investi- 
gation proved the outrage to have been unjustifiable, and 
our Government required Chili to apologize and pay an in- 
demnity. Chili at first was defiant but we were firm, and 
gave her the choice of doing as required or going to war. 
She decided to make an apology, and paid an indemnity to 
those entitled to it. 

Increase of the Navy. — Our foreign complications 
aroused attention to the comparative weakness of our navy, 
and plans for naval construction inaugurated by Cleveland 
were vigorously prosecuted during Harrison's administra- 
tion. The same policy has been steadily pursued until now 
we have some of the finest battleships in the world, and 
have no cause to be ashamed of our navy. 

The McKinley Tariff Bill. — ■ The Republicans now 
had control of both Houses of Congress, and, after high 
debate on the question, passed the Tariff bill of Hon. Wil- 
liam McKinley, of Ohio. This bill increased the duties on 
a large number of articles, reduced those on others, or re- 
moved them altogether, and was clearly devised and enacted 
in the interest of certain classes, who were to reap large 
benefits from it. 

The Sherman Silver Bill. — The continued agita- 
tion of the silver question by the friends of " free coinage," 
who were not satisfied with the workings of the " Bland 
act," brought about a compromise proposed by Senator 
John Sherman, of Ohio. It provided for the buying of 
4,500,000 ounces of silver monthly, to be paid for in treasury 
notes. 

Pension Extravagance. — On the recommendation of 
President Harrison, a new pension law was enacted, which 
greatly increased the amount of pensions paid Federal 
soldiers, their widows, and orphans. 



4b0 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

There are now on the pension rohs about twice as many 
names as there were soldiers enhsted by the Confederacy 
during the whole four years of the war, and the annual 
amount paid in pensions is now about $150,000,000. 

Revolution in Hawaii. — Early in 1893 there was a 
revolution in Hawaii against the queen and a new constitu- 
tion which she had promulgated, and a body of marines 
lan.ded from an American warship " to protect American 
citizens and their property." The queen was deposed, a 
Provisional Government formed, and Commissioners sent 
to Washington to seek annexation to the United States. 
The President agreed on a treaty of annexation, and sent it 
to the Senate for confirmation. But that body had not 
acted upon it when Cleveland's second term begun, and he 
promptly withdrew the treaty. Nothing further was done 
in the matter until McKinley's administration, when, as we 
will see, Hawaii was annexed. 

Questions. — Give a biographical sketch of the twenty-third 
President. Describe the naval disaster at Samoa. Give a history 
of Oklahoma. What is said of the Johnstown flood? What 
States were admitted to the Union? What is said of the Pan- 
American Conference? Give a brief account of our trouble with 
Chili. The McKinlev Tariff bill. Revolution in Hawaii. . 



CHAPTER XXXVIil. 

CLEVELAND'S SECOND ADMINISTRATION. (1893-1897). 

Election and Inauguration. — The candidates in the 
Presidential campaign of 1892 were Grover Cleveland for 
President, and Adlai E. Stevenson for Vice-President, on 
the part of the Democrats; Benjamin Harrison and Wliite- 
law Reid, for the Republicans ; James B. Weaver, of Iowa, 
and General James G. Field, of Virginia, for the Populists ; 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 431 

and John Bidwcll, of California, and Rev. J. B. Cranfili, of 
Texas, for the Prohibitionists. 

The issue between the RepubHcans and the Democrats 
was chiefly on the tariff — the former favoring the McKin- 
ley bill and the latter " a Tariff for revenue only." 

The result of the election was that Cleveland received 
2yy electoral votes, Harrison 145, and Weaver twenty-two. 

Repeal of the "Sherman Bill." — A money strin- 
gency visited the country in the spring and summer of 
1893. The President convened Congress (August 7), and 
recommended the repeal of the clause of the Sherman bill 
which provided for the purchase and coinage of a large 
amount of silver every month. The House promptlv ac- 
ceded to the request, but when the bill went to the Senate 
a long delay followed. Though a majority of the Senators 
favored the repeal, some who opposed it staved off action 
for weeks. At last, October 30, it passed, and the President 
promptly signed it (November i). 

Wilson Tariff Bill. — At the regular session of Con- 
gress, in December, Hon. William L. Wilson, of West 
Virginia, promptly introduced a bill repealing and modify- 
ing the McKinley bill, and making a sweeping reduction in 
the Tariff, especially on raw material required in manufac- 
tures. After an able debate, which was closed by Mr. Wil- 
son in a speech of ability, learning, and eloquence, the 
bill passed the House. As the Senate was, also, Demo- 
cratic, it was expected that the bill would promptly pass 
that body, and become a law. But there was enough divi- 
sion among the Democrats in the Senate to pass amend- 
ments which very materially changed the character of the 
bill. The House for a long time refused to accept these 
amendments, the Senate stood firm, and when at last it 
seemed that no Tariff bill at all would be passed, and the 
McKinley bill remain the law, the House concurred, and 



482 SCHOOL HhSTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

President Cleveland allowed the amended bill to become a 
law without his signature. 

The Columbian Naval Review As preparatory to 

the great Columbian Exposition in Chicago to celebrate the 
four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America by 
Columbus, it was determined to have a grand Naval Re- 
view in New York harbor of the warships of the leading 
nations of the world. 

Because of delay in the preparations, the great celebration 
had to be postponed one year beyond the proper date of the 
anniversary. Several weeks were spent in the coming to- 
gether of the ships in Hampton Roads, Va., for a number 
had to steam from distant parts of the globe. When all 
was ready, they sailed to New York, where the naval review 
took place, April 2y, 1893. 

The warships were ranged in two lines, fully three niiles 
long, in the Hudson river. They numbered thirty-five, not 
including the three Columbus caravels. The nations repre- 
sented were the United States, Great Britain, France, Ger- 
many, Russia, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Holland and Argentina. 

No one could look without awe upon these magnificent 
war vessels, but a quaint interest clung to the three caravels 
at the head of the lines. The Santa Maria, Nina, and Pinta 
were exact copies of the little ships whose names they bore, 
and which crossed the Atlantic with Columbus. 

The Great Exposition in Chicago Congress appro- 
priated $10,000,000 for completing the wark in a man- 
ner befitting the dignity of the nation. Different States 
made appropriations, and the success of the great enterprise 
was assured from the first. Chicago was selected as the 
city in which the exposition was to be held, and she selected 
Jackson Park as the site of the buildings devoted to that 
purpose. This fine park is on the shore of Lake Michigan, 
and embraces 523 acres, the Midway Plaisance eighty acres. 



434 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

and Washington Park, which served as a gateway to the 
exhibition, contains 371 acres. With its frontage of nearly 
two miles on the lake, the site was an ideal one. 

The dedication of the grand structures took place on the 
2ist of October, 1892, in Manufacturers' Hall, which was 
filled with more than 30,000 people. 

The Strike and Riots in Chicago and the Northwest. 
Scarcely had the great exposition of the arts of peace closed 
its gates when there broke out in Chicago, and extended all 
through the Northwest, one of the most extensive and vio- 
lent railroad strikes which the country ever saw. 

Beginning with the strike against the Pullman Car Com- 
pany, it extended to all railways entering Chicago and 
throughout the Northwest, involved many other labor or- 
ganizations, and resulted in such violent measures and 
such destructive effects upon property (estimated at 
$87,000,000 worth), and stoppage of all travel and traffic, 
that the President, on the ground that it interfered with the 
United States mails, and interstate commerce, issued a proc- 
lamation against the rioters, and sent United States troops 
to suppress them, which was only done after a good deal of 
fighting and bloodshed. 

Threatened Trouble With England — For many years 
there had been a dispute between England and Venezuela 
about the boundary line between this latter country and 
British Guiana, and consequently the possession of a con- 
siderable slice of territory. The United States offered its 
friendly offices to settle the dispute, but Great Britain, de- 
clining to arbitrate, Mr. Cleveland, on the 24th of Decem- 
ber, 1895, sent a message to Congress, in which he recited 
the facts, asked for authority to appoint a commission who 
should examine into and determine the boundary line, and 
boldly avowed the duty of the United States to carry out 
the " Monroe Doctrine," that is, not to allow a foreign 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 435 

power to acquire additional territory or to interfere witli the 
rights of estabHshed governments on the American conti- 
nent. Congress promptly and heartily adopted the meas- 
ures the President advised, and there were at once great 
excitement in this country and Great r>ritain, and a great 
deal of loud " war talk " on both sides. The trouble was, 
however, settled by a court of arbitration, which gave its 
award in 1899 fixing the line of boundary. 

The control of the Behring Sea, and the right to take 
seals therefrom — a question which threatened trouble be- 
tween the two countries during Harrison's administration 
— was referred to a court of arbitration, which met at Paris 
in 1893, and decided against the United States on the extent 
of her jurisdiction, though in favor of her contention 
against the wholesale destruction of the seals. 

Cyclone at St. Louis — One of the worst disasters that 
ever befell an American city was a cyclone at St. Louis in 
the spring of 1893, in which millions of dollars worth of 
property and hundreds of lives were sacrificed to the terrible 
storm king. 

Increase of the Navy and Coast Defences. — \ cry 
large appropriations were made by Congress for the in- 
crease of the navy, and for coast defenses. There seemed 
to be a very general demand that the country should be 
prepared for any emergency. A contract for building two 
of the largest steel warships was awarded to the ncAv and 
magnificently equipped shipyard at Newport News, at the 
mouth of the James river. 

Utah Admitted. — On the 4th of January, 1896, the 
Territory of Utah was admitted into the Union as a State. 
This made the total number of States forty-five. 

Presidential Election. — This event is always a season 
of excitement, and more or less of bitterness. The contest 
in 1896 was unusually exciting, owing to divisions within 



436 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

the two great political parties. The National Convention 
of the Democratic Party adopted a platform favoring " the 
free and unlimited coinage of silver at the ratio of i6 to i," 
and a revenue tariff equitably adjusted, and nominated 
William J. Bryan, of Nebraska, for President, and Arthur 
Sevvall, of Maine, for Vice-President. A number of Demo- 
crats who opposed free coinage of silver called a convention 
which nominated John M. Palmer, of Illinois, and Simon 




CONGRESSIONAL LIBRARY, WASHINGTON, D. C. 

Building Begun 1889 ; Finished iZ<)T- 

Bolivar Buckner, of Kentucky, on a platform favoring a 
gold standard. 

The National Republican Convention adopted a plat- 
form favoring the gold standard, and a protective tarilT, and 
nominated William McKinley, of Ohio, for President, and 
Garret A. Hobart, of New Jersey, for Vice-President. A 
number of Republicans, opposed to a single gold standard, 
acted with the Silver Party, which afterward held a conven- 
tion and endorsed Bryan and Sewall. 



8CB00L HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



43'3 



McKinley and Hobart were elected — receiving 271 elec- 
toral votes to Bryan's 176 — and the Republicans elected, 
at the same time, a majority of the members of Congress. 

Questions. — Give an account of the Presidential campaign of 
1892. What was the "Sherman Bill?" Wilson tariff bill? De- 
scribe the Columbian Naval Review. Describe the great World's 
Exposition. Tell about the threatened trouble with England. 
Cyclone in St. Louis. What is said of our navy and coast 
defences? When did Utah become a State? Give an account of 
the Presidential election of i8g6. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 
McKINLEY'S ADMINISTRATION. (1897- .) 

William McKinley. —Wil- 
liam McKinley, twenty-fifth 
l^resident of the United States, 
was born at Niles, Ohio, Janu- 
ary 29, 1843. ^Is ^^'^s 'I school 
teacher when the War between 
the States broke out, and en- 
listed as a private, serving until 
the close of hostilities, by 
which time he had won the 
rank of major. He became a 
lawyer, and, entering politics, 
served for seven terms as rep- 
resentative in Congress from his State. In 1890, Congress 
passed a high protective tariff bill, which is known as the 
McKinley Bill. In the following year he was elected Gov- 
ernor of Ohio. By that time his record had attracted 
national attention, and secured him the Presidential nomi- 
nation in 1896. 

The Dingley Tariff Bill — The new President, imme- 
diately after his inauguration, March 4, 1897, called an ex- 
tra session of Congress, which passed in July what is known 




438 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

as the " Dingley Tarifif Bill." This repealed the " Wilson 
Bill," passed by a Democratic Congress under Cleveland's 
administration, and placed higher duties on imports. 

The Klondike Gold Fields. — Great excitement was 
caused in 1897 by reports of wonderful gold finds along the 
Upper Yukon river in Alaska, and especially on the tribu- 
tary known as the Klondike, which lies in Canada to the 
east of Alaska. These reports, though so wild as to sound 
improbable, proved to be true. 

Cuban Policy and Relations With Spain In 1895 

the people of Cuba again revolted against the iron yoke of 
Spain, and their gallant struggle against their cruel oppress- 
ors awakened the warmest sympathy in this country. 
" Butcher Weyler," as the Spanish Captain-General of Cuba 
was called, was universally detested, and our people were 
longing for an opportunity of helping the patriots to win 
tlieir independence. President Cleveland sent as Consul- 
General to Havana General Fitzhugh Lee, of Virginia, who 
had been a distinguished Major-General in the Confederate 
Army, and had been one of the ablest Governors Virginia 
ever had, and in whose courage, ability, and conservative 
wisdom Mr. Cleveland had great confidence. When Presi- 
dent McKinley came into office it was soon understood 
that he would pursue the same policy as his predecessor. 
He declined to accept the resignation of Consul-General 
Lee, and insisted upon his remaining at his post, and took 
occasion to say that " General Lee has discharged his duties 
with courage, judgment, and ability, and to the entire satis- 
faction of the President." 

The insurrection continued ; Spain's proposition for 
" autonomy " to Cuba failed to satisfy the rebels, and Con- 
gress and the country were growing very impatient at the 
continuance of the war, when an event occurred which for 
the time overshadowed all other questions. 

At 9:40 on the evening of the 15th of February, 1898, 



SCHOOL HISTORT OF THE UNITED STATES. 439 

the United States battleship Maine, which was in the harbor 
of Havana, was blown up, and more than 250 men were 
killed, including- two officers, and only ninety-six were saved. 
A Board of Inquiry investigated the cause of the explosion. 
While awaiting the report, the Governments of both coun- 
tries made the most active preparations for war. The 
United States Congress voted promptly and unanimously 
$50,000,000 " to be used by the President at his discretion." 

The investigation fully established the fact that the Maine 
was blown up by a submarine torpedo, over which she was 
anchored by direction of Spanish officials, and while full 
proofs of exactly who were the guilty parties could not be 
found, yet the circumstantial proof was overwhelming that 
the destruction of the Maine was brought about by the con- 
nivance, if not the active participation, of certain Spanish 
officials. 

Opening of the War Both countries had been busily 

preparing for the conflict which seemed inevitable. The 
United States begun to purchase war vessels abroad, and 
Merchant Marine ships at home, and to work her Navy 
Yards to their utmost capacity. The President called for 
125,000 volunteers, and each section vied with the other in 
furnishing them. The fleetest vessels in the Navy were 
concentrated in Hampton Roads, forming " the flying 
squadron," under Commodore Schley, and the " North 
Atlantic Squadron," under Acting Admiral Sampson, con- 
centrated at Key West, Fla. 

April 19th, 1898, Congress adopted joint resolutions 
recognizing the independence of Cuba, and demanding the 
immediate withdrawal of the Spanish troops from the 
Island. Spain dismissed the American Minister from 
Madrid on the 21st of April, and on the 25th Congress 
formally declared war against Spain. 

The First Great Victory. — The first great victory 
came from an unexpectetl quarter. 



440 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UKITED STATES. 



When war was declared, Commodore George Dewey was 
at Hong Kong in command of six vessels. He immedi- 
ately sailed for the Philippine Islands, and found in the har- 
bor of Manila a powerful Spanish fleet. The combined 
guns of the fleet, and the forts on the shore, and the tor- 
pedoes planted in the harbor might well have caused Dewey 
to hesitate, but on the night of the 31st of April he quietly 
steamed into the harbor, and the next morning, May ist, 
attacked and destroyed every vessel of the enemy, and 
silenced the guns of the forts. The Spaniards lost 1000 
men, but, strange to say, Dewey did not lose a single man. 
,.»''°°'*'">»v,^ Congress passed a vote of thanks, and 
Dewey was promoted to the rank of 
Admiral. 



General Merritt 
sent with 




25,000 men to 
complete the con- 
quest of the Phil- 

lippines, and before his arrival Admiral 
Dewey showed rare courage, wisdom, 
and conservatism in the management of affairs at Manila. 

The Blockade. — April 226. a blockade of the leading 
Cuban ports was declared, and the fleet from Key West sent 
to enforce it. 

Numerous shots were exchanged with the forts, and a 
number of Spanish vessels were captured. Supplies and 
arms for the Cubans were landed at various points. 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



441 



In an action off Cardenas, May nth, Ensign Worth Bag- 
ley, of North Carohna, the gallant and cflicient executive 
officer of the torpedo boat Winslovv, was killed. And thus 
the " old North State '' had the first officer killed in this 
war, as she had the first soldier killed in the great struggle 
for constitutional freedom in "6i. 

Cervera's Fleet " Bottled Up." — Admiral Cervera, the 
ablest of the Spanish naval officers, with the most powerful 
of their warships, crossed the Atlantic for the purpose of 
breaking the Cuban blockade. He eluded both Sampson, 
and Schley, and entered the land- 
locked harbor of Santiago, where 
he had strong forts 
to protect him, and 
could in turn as- 
sist in the de- 




LiEifT Vic 

fense of the forts 
from an attack by 
land, if any such were made. 

Some very brave acts were per- 
formed during this naval block- 
ade. 

Lieutenant Blue, of South Carolina, attracted attention 
for heroic daring and intelligent scouting by twice making, 
without guide or companion, a circuit of the city and bay, 
and accurately reporting the positions of forts and vessels. 

In order to complete the '"' bottling up " of the Spanish 



442 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

fleet, Sampson called for volunteers to sink a large coaling 
vessel across the narrow channel. Though it seemed al- 
most certain death to undertake this perilous enterprise, 
every man in the fleet volunteered, and Naval Constructor 
Richmond P. Hobson, of Alabama, was chosen to com- 
mand the expedition. 

On the night of June 3d Hobson and his seven heroic 
men steamed to the selected spot on the coal-transport 
Merrimac, and under a rain of shot and shell sunk the boat 
across the channel, and clung to a raft until daybreak the 
next morning, when he was captured by Cervera himself, 
who came out in a launch to view the wreck. The gallant 
Admiral, touched by the heroism of Hobson and his men, 
treated the prisoners with great courtesy, sent word to the 
American fleet that they were safe, and released them on the 
first exchange of prisoners. 

The Destruction of Cervera's Fleet. — Against his 
judgment, but under positive orders from his superiors, 
Cervera attempted, Sunday morning, July 3, to break out 
from his " bottle," and escape from the blockade. The 
Merrimac did not fully block the channel, as was supposed, 
and Cervera steamed out in the full confidence of success. 
At this time Sampson had gone in his flagship to have an 
interview with General Shafter, but Schley was in com- 
mand, and under his able and prompt management every 
one of Cervera's ships was destroyed — torn to pieces, 
burned, sunk, or run on shore — and his crews killed or 
captured. Cervera was courteously received and treated, 
and his men kindly cared for. The Spanish loss was 500 
killed and 1600 prisoners. 

Surrender of Santiago. — The outposts of San Juan and 
El Caney had been carried by storm July 1-2 — General 
Lawton, and the old Confederate " Fighting Joe " Wheeler, 
of Alabama, greatly distinguishing themselves. The Amer- 



SCHOOL IIISTOh'Y OF THE VNITKD STATES. 



443 



ican troops here displayed great patience under hardships, 
and courage in the attack, and Northern and Southern 
troops fought side by side with commendable rivalry. 

It is but simple justice to say that General Joseph 
Wheeler was the moving spirit in the advance — leading 
his men in person with the gallantry he was wont to display 
when he won his place as one of the hardest fighters in the 
Confederate army. 

The demand of General Shaffer 

for the surrender of the city the next 

day being refused, it was bombarded, 

and finally sur- 

. rendered on July 

17, including all 




of the garrisons 
of Eastern 
Cuba, number- 
ing 25,000 in all. 
Advance on 



Porto Rico. — July 
25, General Nelson A. Miles landed on 
the southern coast of Porto Rico, and 
took up his line of march for San Juan, capturing the large 
city of Ponce on the way. But before Miles could accom- 
plish anything a truce was proclaimed, and a treaty of peace 
arranged. 

Spain Sues for Peace The destruction of nearly all 

of her war vessels, the capture of Santiago, the invasion of 
Porto Rico, preparations to embark the corps of General 



444 SCHOOL HISTOJiT OF THE UNITED t<ITATES. 

Fitz Lee against Havana, and the threatened sending of the 
American fleet to bombard the ports of Spain, caused the 
Spanish authorities to overcome their obstinate pride, and 
sue for peace. Their appHcation for terms of peace was 
made, through the French Minister at Washington, July 
26, July 30 President McKinley dictated terms of peace, and 
August I2th, 1898, there was signed at Washington, by the 
French Minister in behalf of Spain, a " protocol," which 
ended hostilities at once, and appointed a commission to 
agree on a definite treaty of peace. 

Capture of Manila Just as Jackson won his great 

victory at New Orleans, after a treaty of peace had been 
signed between Great Britain and the United States so 
Dewey and Merritt, by a combined naval and land attack, 
captured Manila, August 13, after the "protocol" had been 
signed. The flag over the surrendered city was first raised 
by gallant Lieutenant Brumby, of Georgia, who was serv- 
ing on Dewey's flagship. 

Treaty of Peace Ratified October i, 1898, ten com- 
missioners — five appointed by Spain and five by the United 
States — met in Paris, and after full discussion and deliber- 
ation signed, December 10, a treaty of peace, which em- 
braced the terms of the " protocol," and a few additional 
items. 

By it Spain relinquished all claim to Cuba, and ceded to 
the LTnited States. Porto Rico, the island of Guam (of the 
Ladrones), and the Philippines — she to receive as a com- 
pensation for the last named $20,000,000. The treaty was 
ratified by the United States Senate, February 6, 1899. 

The Filipino Insurrection. — The Filipinos, natives 
of the Philippine Islands, had been for years in revolt 
against Spain, and it was hoped that they would now hail 
the Americans as their deliverers, and enter into the 
most friendly relations with them. On the contrary, they 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 445 

soon avowed that they wanted " full independence and not 
a change of masters." 

In the spring of 1898, they formed a Revolutionary Gov- 
ernment, elected Aguinaldo, an able young soldier, as their 
President, and began a fierce war against the United States 
troops. 

February 5, 1899, Aguinaldo attacked the forces under 
General Otis at Manila. Dewey's ships rendered import- 
ant assistance, and the attack was defeated with a loss by 
the Filipinos estimated at 4000 men. The American loss 
was four killed and forty-five wounded. February 11, 
Iloilo, the second largest city of the Philippines, on the 
Island of Panay, surrendered to General Miller, A kind of 
guerilla warfare was, however, continued by small bands of 
Filipinos in spite of many defeats, but on March 23, 1901, 
Aguinaldo was captured by. a clever stratagem planned and 
carried out by General Funston. A few days later, Aguin- 
aldo took the oath of allegiance to the United States and 
many leaders all over the islands surrendered their arms. 

Annexation of Hawaii A treaty for the annexation 

of these islands to the United States, which was sent to the 
Senate in the last days of Harrison's administration, was 
withdrawn by Cleveland. The efifort he made to restore 
the queen was defeated by her blood-thirsty desire to have 
revenge on her enemies. The islands continued to be an 
independent Republic until the question of annexation was 
revived under McKinley's administration, was acted upon 
favorably by Congress, and sovereignty by the United 
States formally assumed at Honolulu August 12th, 1898. 
In 1900 the islands were made into a Territory. 

McKinley Re=elected. — At the Republican National 
Convention in 1900 William McKinley was nominated 
for re-election, and Theodore Roosevelt, Governor of New 
York, was nominated for Vice-President. The Demo- 



446 t:iVHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED tiTATES. 

crats again nominated William J. Bryan as their candidate 
for President, aiid they nominated Adlai E. Stevenson for 
the Vice-Presidency. At the polling in November the 
Republican candidates were elected. 

CONCLUSION. 

Our Country — If we study the history of other coun- 
tries and compare them with our own, it will be clear to us 
that our progress has been greater than that of any other 
people. Let us glance at a few of the facts : 

Our Growth. — Within a little more than a century the 
number of States has grown from thirteen to forty-five ; our 
population has increased from 3,000,000 to nearly 
70,000,000, and the area of our country today is ten times 
greater than at the close of the Revolution. 

If one can imagine a blanket as large as the State of 
Texas, it would wrap England, Scotland and Ireland so as 
to hide them from sight. Colorado will make seven king- 
doms the size of Denmark ; the farms of the United States 
surpass in extent the whole territory of the United King- 
dom, France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Hungary and 
Portugal ; our cornfields are as large as England, Scotland 
and Belgium ; our grainfields exceed the surface of Spain ; 
our cotton fields are more extensive than Holland. We 
have space for five times our present population before it 
becomes as dense as that of Europe. If we were as thickly 
settled as Great Britain our population would be 1,000,- 
000,000. 

In 1810, we had not a State containing 1,000,000 inhabit- 
ants. Now, twenty-seven States have each a population of 
more than 1,000,000, and one has more than 7,000,000. We 
have one city containing over three million inhabitants, 
two cities over a million each, and more than thirty rang- 
ing from 100,000 to over half a million. 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATED. 447 

Our Manufactures. —The manufactures of Great 
Britain are almost double that of any other nation of 
Europe. Ours are about twice those of Great Britain and 
one-third of all other nations. 

Our Railways and Telegraph Lines. — In 1830, 
there were twenty-three miles of railway in operation in the 
United States. Today there are 200,000 miles. We have 
more than twenty-six miles for every 10,000 inhabitants. 
Sweden is the only country in Europe which has ten miles 
to a population of 10,000. We have enough telegraph lines 
to girdle the world thirty times, and to reach three times 
the distance from the earth to the moon. 

Education. — We pay four times as much for education 
as Great Britain, and eleven times as much as France. Our 
regular army has been very small compared with that of 
other nations, but in a few days it could be increased to 
1,000,000 of the best soldiers, under the most skillful of 
leaders. 

When the Revolution broke out we had nine colleges. 
We have now 430, besides 150 professional schools, fifty- 
two law and 115 medical schools. The United States Mili- 
tary Academy at West Point, and the Naval Academy at 
Annapolis are among the best. Every school day 13,000,- 
000 boys and girls are called to instruction in the common 
schools, under 37,000 teachers, and at a yearly expense of 
$150,000,000, besides the very large number in private 
schools and academies, which are supported at very large 
cost. 

In colonial times we had thirty-seven newspapers, which 
have increased to 9000. These are more than one-third of 
all that are printed in the world. About 5000 books are 
published annually, and American authors are read every- 
where, 



448 kiVnOOL UWTORY OF TUE UNITED >STATES. 

Inventions. — The Americans are a nation of inventors. 
Since 1837, about 700,000 patents have been granted in the 
United States. Among these inventions are some of the 
most wonderful and useful ever conceived by man. The 
principal are the lightning rod, the quadrant, the cotton-gin, 
the steamboat, the magnetic telegraph, improved gunnery, 
sewing machines, agricultural implements, surgical and den- 
tal apparatus, typewriters, steam fire engines, drawing-room, 
vestibule and sleeping cars, elevators, the phonograph, tele- 
phone, kinetoscope, electric light, automobile, liquid air, 
and others almost without number. 

The field of invention has no limit. As a rule, the con- 
trivances of the simplest construction are the most valuable. 
Many such have been made by women. If a youth has 
talent for invention, it may lead to fame and fortune. 

Progress and Prosperity of the South. — To those 
who remember, or have studied, the condition of things in 
our Southland in 1865, and for some years afterwards — 
the impoverishment of all of our people, the prostration of 
all of our industries, the disorganization of our labor system, 
the swarms of harpies who were fattening on what little the 
war left us, and the seeming hopelessness for the future — 
its present prosperity and bright prospects never cease to be 
a matter of surprise and wonder. 

Its corn, wheat, tobacco, cotton, rice, sugar, iron, coal, 
melons, fruits, vegetables, manufactures, tiiuber, cattle, 
sheep, hogs, horses, poultry and other industries have at- 
tracted the attention of the world, and brought rich returns 
to the people, while its freedom from strikes, riots and other 
disorders, its progress in education, its conservatism in poli- 
tics and religion, and its general freedom from the isms 
which have cursed other sections, added to its genial, balmy 
climate and health-giving breezes, have combined to make 
it a favored resort for those who seek desirable homes, and 



HVHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED HTATE^. 449 

thus there has been turned to the South a tide of the very 
best class of immigrants. 

Courage. — The Americans are among the bravest of all 
people. We need not search the records of antiquity, or 
go to the Old World for examples of lofty patriotism, dar- 
ing courage, and heroic achievement. What sea rover ever 
surpassed Paul Jones, Commodore Perry, Farragut, Buch- 
anan, or Semmes, or where was a more wonderful victory 
ever gained than that by the privateer General Armstrong in 
the harbor of Fayal, when ninety Americans beat ofif 2000 
of the British navy? 

Thermopylae had a messenger to bear the news of the de- 
feat of the Spartans, but when the Alamo was taken by an 
overwhelming force, not a defender was left alive. Two 
Americans penetrated nearer the North Pole than any other 
explorers, and it was an American who discovered the Ant- 
arctic continent. History furnishes no more heroic charges 
than those of Meagher's Irish Brigade at Fredericksburg, 
and Pickett's and Pettigrew's and Trimble's divisions at 
Gettysburg. Neither ancient nor modern times have pro- 
duced greater military leaders than Generals Lee, Johnston, 
Jackson, Grant, Meade, Hancock, Forrest, Stuart, Buell, 
Tliomas and others, nor more courageous soldiers than 
those who wore the gray, and the blue. 

The Future And so all our boys and girls should 

thank God that they are Americans, and that by His grace 
they were born in this land favored above all others. They 
should love their country, its institutions, and its flag more 
than those of any other. They should make the best of the 
blessed privileges that are theirs, and should strive to grow 
up men and women eager, and fully prepared to do their 
part in the advancement of our land to higher achievements 
in education, in civilization, and in Christianity. 

We write this closing sentence in full view of Monticello, 



450 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

where lived, and died the author of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, and within the classic precincts of the great uni- 
versity which he founded, and we appeal especially to the 
boys and girls, the young men and the maidens of our 
Southland to study the history of America, be proud of the 
deeds of their fathers, and learn to love every part of our 
common country, and cherish the profoundest admiration 
for our free institutions. 

Why should zvc not love the flag of our country ? It was 
modelled from the coat-of-arms of our own Washington — 
it was borne on many a victorious field by our fathers — the 
" Star-Spangled Banner " was written by a Southern man, 
when Southern troops were winning victory from the Brit- 
ish on Southern soil — the valor and skill of our Taylor, our 
Scott, our Jefferson Davis, our Lee, our Johnston, our Jack- 
son, our Beauregard, and others contributed even more than 
our share towards bearing it to victory on the fields of 
Mexico, and planting it in triumph on the walls of the 
Monlezumas ; and if for four years we did fight against it 
because we believed that sacred rights had been violated, 
and the principles of the Constitution set at naught, yet 
since the decision went against us, and it has been decreed 
that there shall be henceforth one General Government, one 
flag and one country, let us not only " accept the situation," 
as our people have cheerfully done, but vie with our breth- 
ren across the old border in making our common country 
indeed the freest, the most enlightened, the purest and the 
happiest land on which the sim shines. 

And may we not confidently point to the history of the 
South since 1865 as proof that when our knightly Gordon, 
of Georgia, on the floor of the United States Senate. pledged 
the North that the " men who wore the gray," and their 
sons, were ready to contribute their full share towards sup- 
porting the Government in any proper undertaking, and 



SCHOOL HIHTORY OF THE I'XITED 8TATE8. 451 

other Confederate soldiers in the Senate and the House 
have pledged their people to defend the old flag against any- 
foreign foe, they but reflected the sentiments of our South- 
land? If further proof were needed was it not abundantly 
furnished during the War with Spain ? 

And we know not how better to put this than by quoting 
the conclusion of the eloquent speech of Captain W. Gordon 
McCabe, of Virginia — himself a gallant Confederate sol- 
dier — delivered at a recent banquet of the New England 
Society in New York, and received with enthusiastic 
applause and cheers. He said : 

" Above the first fierce mutterings of the coming storm 
rose high and clear yonder at Havana the voice of Fitzhugh 
Lee, the grandson of ' Light Horse Harry,' once the ' beau 
sabrcur ' of the Army of Northern Virginia, demanding 
with soldierly directness prompt Spanish recognition of the 
sanctity of American citizenship. 

Then, when the die was cast, and the Olympia on that 
memorable May morning stood into Manila Bay, ' on the 
bridge,' close alongside of George Dewey, of \'ermont, 
stood ' Tom ' Brumby, of Georgia (God rest his noble soul) ; 
and so, when the American flag was first unfurled to the 
breeze over the first American possession in the eastern 
world, the son of an old Confederate Colonel stood at the 
halyards. 

" Ten days later, at Cardenas, the first crimson libation 
of the war was poured out on the altar of Cuban liberty, 
and the brave young blood of that gallant lad, Worth Bag- 
ley, of the ' Old North State,' son, too, of an old Confeder- 
ate soldier, cemented forever the reconciliation between 
North and South. 

" And as in quick succession the names of Hobson, and 
Blue, and ' Fighting Joe ' Wheeler blazed in official dis- 



452 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

patches, the thunderous shouts of a reunited people drowned 

even the ' iron-throated plaudits of the guns.' 

********* 

" God forbid that war, civil or foreign, should come again 
in this our time. He who has once seen the suffering and 
sorrow and desolation that it brings to happy homes can 
never wish to see it again. But should it come, men of the 
North, and of the East, and of the West, I speak for my 
people — that people who never yet faltered in half-way 
defiance to a foe or in half-way welcome to a friend — I 
speak for my people, ere the first call to arms of our com- 
mon country shall have died upon the breeze yo'U shall 
hear the tramp of our legions as they wheel into line to 
touch elbows with the stalwart sons of New England, eager 
to keep time with cadenced step to the music of the Union 
— aye ! to hedge 'round with stubborn steel that ' Starry 
Banner ' that symbolizes once more to us, as to you, the 
majesty of American citizenship, and the indestructibility 
of republican institutions." 

Let each section of the country but do justice to the rest, 
and our new Union shall have entered upon a career of pros- 
perity, and glory unparalleled in the annals of history. 

Questions. — Give a biographical sketch of President McKinley. 
What is said of the Dingley Tariff Bill? What is said of the 
Klondike gold fields? What is said of Cuban policy and relations 
with Spain? Destruction of the Maine? Opening of the War? 
The first great victory? Blockade of Cuban ports? The first 
officer killed? Cervera "bottled up?" Destruction of Cervera's 
fleet? Incidents of the surrender of Santiago? Advance on Porto 
Rico? Capture of Manila? Treaty of peace signed? Re-election 
of McKinley? Annexation of Hawaii? Show how we have in- 
creased in population and area. What is said of our manufactures? 
Of our railways and telegraph lines? Compare the money ex- 
pended for education by the United States with that expended by 
other nations. What of the public schools? What of our in- 
ventors? What about the progress and prosperity of the South? 
Her future? 



SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE VXITED STATES. 453 

CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY OF EVENTS. 

A. D. e. 

1865. Vice-President Johnson sworn in as President, April 15. . 397 

1867. Alaska purchased, March 30 401 

1867. Nebraska admitted to the Union, March i 405 

1868. President Johnson impeached; acquitted, June 5 401 

1868. Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution ratified 401 

1869. " Black Friday," September 24 406 

1875. Colorado admitted to the Union, March 3 409 

1876. General Custer and his command massacred by Indians, 408 

1876. Centennial Exposition opened in Philadelphia, May 10. . 409 

1877. President Hayes inaugurated, March 5 413 

i88r. President Garfield assassinated, July 2 416 

1881. Arthur sworn in as President, September 20 416 

1884. Cotton Centennial Exposition opened, December 16.... 421 

1&85. President Cleveland inaugurated, March 4 420 

1889. President Harrison inaugurated, March 4 425 

18S9. Johnstown flood, May 31 426 

1889. North and South Dakota admitted to the Union, Nov. 3. . 426 

1889. Montana admitted to the Union, November il 426 

1890. Idaho admitted to the Union, July 3 426 

1890. Wyoming admitted to the Union, July 10. 426 

1893. President Cleveland inaugurated, March 4 430 

1893. Columbian Naval Review, April 27 432 

1893. World's Columbian Exposition opened. May i 432 

1896. Utah admitted to the Union, January 4 435 

1898. The battleship Maine blown up at Havana, February 15. .439 

1898. Independence of Cuba acknowledged, April 19 439 

1895. Dewey's victory at Manila harbor, May i 440 

1898. Blockade of Cuba, April 22 440 

1898. Destruction of Cervera's fleet, July 3 

1898. Surrender of Santiago, July 17 442 

1898. Spain sues for peace, July 26 443 

1898. Protocol signed, August 12 444 

1898. Capture of Manila, .A.ugust 13 444 

1898. Treaty of peace signed, December 10 444 

1899. Aguinaldo attacks Manila, Feburary 5 445 

1901. Aguinaldo captured 445 



454 SCHOOL BISTORT OP THE UNITED STATES. 

THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Term of Service 



1789-1797.- 

1797-1801.- 

i8oi-i8og-- 

180Q-1817. . 

1817-1825.. 

1825-1829.. 

1829-1837.. 

1837-1841. . 
March-April i84i._ 

1841-1845.. 

1845-1849.. 

1849-1850.- 

1850-1833.. 

1853-1857.. 

1857-1861.. 

1861-1865.. 

1865-1869.. 

1869-1877.. 

1877-1881.. 
March-Sept. 1881.. 

1881-1885.. 

1885-1839.. 



Name. 



George Washington ... 

John Adams 

Thomas Jefferson 

James Madison ._ 

James Monroe _ 

John Quincy Adams ... 

Andrew Jackson 

Martin Van Buren 

Wm. Henry Harrison.. 

John Tyler.. 

James K. Polls 

Zachary Taylor 

Millard Fillmore 

Franklin Pierce. 

James Buchanan 

Abraham Lincoln 

Andrew Johnson. 

Ulysses S. Grant.. 

Rutherford B. Hayes.. 

James A. Garfield 

Chester A. Arthur 

Grover Cleveland 

Benjamin Harrison 

Grover Cleveland 

William McKinley 



Born. 



Bridge's Creek, Va., 

Feb. 22, 1732. 
Quincy, Mass., 

Oct. 19, 1735. 
Shadweli, Va., 

April 2, 1743. 
Port Conway, Va., 

March 16, 1751. 
Monroe's Creek, Va., 

April 28, 1758. 
Quincy, Mass., 

July, II, 1767. 
Cureton Pond, N. C, 

March 15, 1767. 
Kinderhook, N. Y., 

Dec. 5, 1782. 
Berkeley, Va., 

Feb. 9, 1773. 
Greenway, Va., 

March 29, 1790. 
Pineville, N. C, 

Nov. 2, 1795. 
Orange C. H., Va., 

Sept. 24, 1784. 
Summerhill, N. Y., 

Jan. 7, 1800. 
Hillsborough, N. H., 

Nov. 23, 1804. 
Cove Gap, Pa , 

April 13, 1791. 
Hodgenville, Ky., 

Feb. 12, 1809. 
Raleigh, N. C, 

Dec. 29, 1808. 
Point Pleasant, O., 

April 27, 1822. 
Delaware, O., 

Oct. 4, 1822. 
Orange Township,©., 

Nov. 19, 1831. 
Fairfield, Vt., 

Oct. 5, 1830. 
Caldwell, N. J., 

March, ib, 1837. 
North Bend, O., 

Aug. 20, 1833. 
Caldwell, N. J., 

March 18, 1837. 
Niles, O., 

Jan. 29, 1843. 



Dec. 14, 1799. 
July 4, 1826. 
July 4, 1836. 
June 28, 1836. 
July 4, 1831. 
Feb. 21, 1848. 
June iS, 1S45. 
July 24, 1862, 
April 4, 1841. 
Jan. 18, i86a. 
June 15, 1849. 
July 9, 1850. 
March 8, 1874. 
Oct. 8, 1869. 
June I, 1868. 
April 15, 1865. 
July 31, 1875. 
July 23, 1S85. 
Jan. 17, 1893. 
Sept. 19, 1S81. 
Nov. i8, 1886. 

March 13, 1901. 



SGBOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



4o5 



HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL TABLE. 

Area of States and Territories, with Dates of Admission of States, Populations 

AND Capitals. 



The Thirteen Original 

Stat'-s. 


Ratified the 
Constitution. 


Area of 

Original 

States, 

Sq. Miles. 


Population 
in 1900. 


Capitals. 


New Hampshire 


June 21, 1788 
February 6, 1788 

May 29, 1790 

January 9, 1788 
July 26, 1788 
December 18, 1787 
December 12, 1787 
December 7, 1787 
April 28, 1788 
June 25, 1788 
November 21, 1789 
May 23, 1788 
January 2, 1788 


9.005 
8,040 

1,08s 

4.845 
47,620 

7.455 
44.985 

3.290 

9,860 
40, 125 
48, 580 
30, 170 
58,980 


411,588 
2,805,346 

428, 556 

908, 355 
7, 268,012 
1,883,669 
6, 302,115 

184,735 
1,190,050 
1,854,184 
1,893,810 
1,340,316 
2,216,331 


Portsmouth. 


Rhode Island- 


\ Newport and 




1 Providence. 
Hartford. 




Albany. 
Trenton. 
Harrisburg. 
Dover. 


New Jersey 


Delaware 




Annapolis. 
Richmond. 


Virginia 




Raleigh. 




Columbia 


Georgia . 


Atlanta. 







States 
Admitted. 



Kentucky ... 
Vermont 

Tennessee .. 

Ohio - 

Louisiana .. 

Indiana 

Mississippi .. 

Illinois 

Alabama 

Maine 

Missouri 

Arkansas 

Michigan 

Florida 

Iowa 

Texas 

Wisconsin .. 
California .. 
Minnesota... 

Oregon 

Kansas 

W.Virginia., 

Nevada 

Nebraska ... 
Colorado ... 
N. Dakota... 
S. Dakota.. 

Montana 

Washington 

Idaho 

Wyoming .. 
Utah 



Act 
Organizing 
Territory. 



Out of Va.. 

Out of N. H. 

and N. Y.. 

Out of N. C. 

Ord. 1787 

Mar. 3, 1805 
May 7, 1800 
April 7, 1798 
Feb. 3, 1809 
Mar. 3, 1817 
Out of Mass. 
June 4, 1812 
Mar. 2, 1819 
Jan. 11, 1805 
Mar. 30, 1822 
June 12, 1838 
Annexed... 
Apr. 20, 183 
Frm. Mexico 
Mar. 3, i8<9 
Aug. 14, 1848 
May 30. 1854 
Out of Va .. 
Mar. 2, 1861 
May 30, 1854 
Feb. 28, 1861 



Act 

Admitting 

State. 



Feb. 4, 1791 



Sept. 9, 1850 



Feb. 


18, 


June 


I, 


Apr. 


30, 


Apr. 


8, 


Dec. 


II, 


Dec. 


10, 


Dec. 


3, 


Dec. 


14. 


Mar. 


3, 


Mar. 


2, 


June 


IS, 


Jan. 


26, 


Mar. 


3. 


Mar. 


3, 


Mar. 


I, 


Mar. 


3. 


Sept. 


0, 


May 


4, 


beb. 


14, 


Jan. 


29, 


Dec. 


31, 


Mar. 


21, 


Feb. 


0, 


Mar. 


3, 


Nov. 


3, 


Nov. 


3, 


Nov. 


8, 


Nov. 


II, 


July 


3, 


lulV 


II, 


Jan. 


14, 



Admission 
Took 
Effect. 



June I, 1792 



Mar. 4, 
June 1, 
Nov. 29, 
Apr. 30, 
Dec. II, 
Dec. 10, 
Dec. 3, 
Dec. 14, 
Mar. 15, 
Aug. 10, 
June 15, 
Jan. 26, 
Mar. 3, 
Dec. 28, 
Dec. 29, 
May 29, 
Sept. 9, 
858 May II, 
85Q|Feb. 14, 

861 Jan. 29, 

862 June 19, 
864 Oct. 31, 
867 1 Mar. I, 
875 Aug. I, 



1791 
1796 
1802 
1812 
1816 
1817 
1818 
1819 
1820 
1821 
1836 
1837 
1845 
1846 
1845 
1848 
1850 
1858 
1859 



1864 
1867 
1876 



Popula- 
tion 
in 1900. 



135 

750 

760 

420 

910 

340 

000 

540 I 

895 

735 3 

045 

430 

240 

475 
290 
450 
980 
205 
560 
700 

645 
700 
840 
645 
195 
850 
310 
880 
290 
576 



343.641 
I 020, 616 

157.545 
381,625 
,516,462 

,551.27° 
,821 ,550 
828.697 
694. 466 
1 106, 66 
,311.564 
,420,98: 
528,54 
,516,46 
,048, 710 
,069,042 
.485.0531 
.751,394, 
413.536, 
,470,495 
958,800 
42,335 
,068,539 
539, 700 
319, 146 
401,570 
243, 329 
518,103 
161, 772 

92.531 
276,749 



Capitals. 



Frankfort. 

Montpelier. 

Nashville. 

Columbus. 

Baton Routje. 

Indianapolis. 

Jackson. 

Springfield. 

^Iontgomery. 

Augusta. 

Jefferson City. 

Little Rock. 

Lansing. 

Tallahassee. 

Des Moines. 

Austin. 

Madison. 

Sacramento. 

St. Paul. 

Salem. 

Topeka. 

Charleston. 

Carson City. 

Lincoln. 

Denver. 

Bismarck. 

Pierre. 

Helena. 

Olympia. 

Bqjse City. 

Cheyenne. 

Salt Lake City. 



4.56 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

ORGANIZATION AND AREA OF TERRITORIES. 



Territories. 


Act 
Org^anizing 
Territory. 


Area of the 

Territories 

in Sqr. Miles. 


Population 
in 1900, 


Capitals. 




Sept. 9, i8so 
Feb. 24, 1863 
June 30, 1834 
j July 16, 1790 1 
'( March 3, 1791 \ 
July 27, 1868 
May 2, 1890 
April 30, 1900 


122,460 
112, 920 
64,693 

+70 

577. 3qo 
61,834 
6,449 


195, 310 
122,931 
391,960 

278,718 

63.441 
398,245 
154,001 


Sante Fe. 




Phoenix. 


Indian Territory* 

District of Columbia 

Alaska 

Oklahoma 


Washington. 

Sitka. 
Guthrie. 











*No Territorial Government. 

tReduced from 100 to 70 square miles by recession of part to Virginia in 1864. 
The whole area of the States and Territories, including water surface of lakes 
and rivers, is nearly four million square miles. 



APPKNDIX. 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 

In Congress, July 4, 1776. 

A DECLARATION BY THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, IN CONGRESS 

ASSEMBLED. 

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dis- 
solve the political bands which have connected them v^ith another, and to assume, 
among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of 
nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of 
mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the 
separation. 

We hold these truths to be self-evident That all men are created equal •, that 
they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights ; that among these 
are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, govern- 
ments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the 
governed ; that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these 
ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new 
government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers 
in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. 
Prudence, indeed will dictate that governments long established should not be 
changed for light and transient causes ; and accordingly all e.vperience hath shown 
that mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable than to right 
themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a 
long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces 
a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, 
to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. 
Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies, and such is now the necessity 
which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history 
of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpa- 
tions, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these 
States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world. 

He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public 
good. 

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing impor- 
tance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and 
when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. 

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts ot 
people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the 
legislature — a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only. 

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and 
distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing 
them into compliance with his measures. 

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing, with manly 
firmness, his invasions on the rights of the people. 

He has refused, for a long time after such dissolutions, to cause others to be 
elected, whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned 
to the people at large for their e.xercise; the State remaining, in the meantime, 
exposed to all the dangers of invasions from without and convulsions within. 

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States, for that purpose 



ii APPENDIX. 

obstructing- the laws for the naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others 
to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropria- 
tions of lands. 

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws 
for establishing judiciary powers. 

He has made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of their offices, 
and the amount and payment of their salaries. 

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to 
harass our people and eat out their substance. 

He has kept among us in times of peace standing armies, without the consent of 
our legislatures. 

He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior to, the civil 
power. 

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our consti- 
tutions, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pre- 
tended legislation: 

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us; 

For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders which 
they should commit on the inhabitants of these States; 

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world; 

For imposing ta.xes on us without our consent; 

Eor depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury; 

For transporting us beyond seas, to be tried for pretended offenses; 

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, estab- 
lishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries, so as to 
render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute 
rule into these colonies; 

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering 
fundamentally the forms of our governments; 

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with 
power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. 

He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection, and 
waging war against us. 

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed 
the lives of our people. 

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete 
the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of 
cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally 
unworthy the head of a civilized nation. 

He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to bear 
arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, 
or to fall themselves by their hands. 

He has excited domestic insurrection among us, and has endeavored to bring on 
the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of 
warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions. 

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most 
humble terms ; our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. 
A prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant is 
unfit to be the ruler of a free people. 

Nor have we been wanting in our attentions to our British brethren. We have 
warned them, from time to time, of attempts by their legislature to extend an 
unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances 
of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed.-to their native justice 
and magnanimity; and we have conjured them, by the ties of our common kindred, 
to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and 
correspondence. They, too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and consanguin- 
ity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separa- 
tion, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace, 
friends. 

We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General 
Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude 
of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these 
colonies, solemnly publish and declare. That these United Colonies are, and of 
right ought to be, free and independent States: that they are absolved from all 
allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection between them and 
the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; and that, as free 
and Independent States, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract 
aliances, establish commerce, and do all other acts and things which independent 
States may of right do. And, for the support of this declaration, with a firm reli- 



CONSTITUTION. 



Ill 



ance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our 
lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. 

The foregoing Declaration was, by order of Congress, engrossed, and signed by 
the following members : 

JOHN HANCOCK. 
Benjamin Franklin, 
John Morton, 
George Clymer, 
James Smith, 
George Taylor, 
MASSACHUSETTS BAY. James Wilson, 



NEW HAMPSHIRE 
Josiah Bartlett, 
William Whipple, 
Mathew Thornton. 



Charles Carroll, 
roUton. 



of Car- 



Samuel Adams, 
John Adams, 
Robert Treat Paine, 
Elbridge Gerry. 

NEW YORK. 
William Floyd, 
Philip Livingston, 
Francis Lewis, 
Lewis Morris. 

NEW JERSEY. 
Richard Stockton, 
John Witherspoon, 
Francis Hopkinson, 
John Hart, 
Abraham Clark. 

PENNSYLVANIA. 
Robert Morris, 
Benjamin Rush, 



George Ross. 

DELAWARE. 
Caesar Rodney, 
George Read, 
Thomas M'Kean. 

RHODE ISLAND. 
Stephen Hopkins, 
William Ellery. 

CONNECTICUT. 
Roger Sherman, 
Samuel Huntington, 
William Williams, 
Oliver Wolcott. 

MARYLAND. 
Samuel Chase, 
William Paca, 
Thomas Stone, 



VIRGINIA. 
George Wythe, 
Richard Henry Lee, 
Thomas Jefferson, 
Benjamin Harrison, 
Thomas Nelson, Jr., 
Francis Lightfoot Lee, 
Carter Bra.xton. 

NORTH CAROLINA. 
William Hooper, 
Joseph Hewes, 
John Penn. 

SOUTH CAROLINA. 
Edward Rutledge, 
Thomas Hayward, Jr. 
Thomas Lynch, Jr. 
Arthur Middlcton. 

GEORGIA. 
Button Gwinnett, 
Lyman Hall. 
George Walton. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF 
AMERICA.* 



We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish 
Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the 
general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, 
do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. 

ARTICLE I. 

Section i. All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of 
the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives. 

Section 2. The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen 
every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State 
shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of 
the State Legislature. 

No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of 
twenty-five years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall 
not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen. 

Representatives and direct Ta.xes shall be apportioned among the several States 
which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers.t 



* This is an exact copy of the original in punctuation, spelling, capitals, etc. 

t Under the census of 1890 one representative is allowed for every 173,901 persons. 



iv APPENDIX. 

which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including 
those bound to Service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three- 
fifths of all other Persons.* The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years 
after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subse- 
quent Term of Ten years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number 
of Representatives shall not e.xceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State 
shall have at Least one representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the 
State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode 
Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five. New York six, New Jersey 
four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina 
five. South Carolina five, and Georgia three. 

When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive 
Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies. 

The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other officers: and 
shall have the sole Power of Impeachment. 

Section 3. The Senate of the LTnited States shall be composed of two Senators 
from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six Years; and each Senator 
shall have one Vote. 

Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election, thev 
shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes. The Seats of the Senators of 
the first Class shall be vacated at the Expiration of the second Year, of the second 
Class at the Expiration of the fourth Year, and of the third class at the Expiration of 
the sixth Year, so that one-third may be chosen every second year; and if Vacancies 
happen by Resignation, or otherwise, during the Recess of the Legislature of any 
State, the Executive thereof may make temporary Appointments until the next Meet- 
ing of the Legislature, which shall then fill such Vacancies. 

No. person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty 
Years, and been nine Years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when 
elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen. 

The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall 
have no Vote, unless they be equally divided. 

The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the 
absence of the Vice President, or when he shall e,\ercise the Office of President of the 
United States. 

The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for 
that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United 
States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted with- 
out the Concurrence of two-thirds of the Members present. 

Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from 
Office, and Disqualification to hold and enjoy any Oflice of Honour, Trust or Profit 
under the United States ; but the party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and sub- 
ject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law. 

Section 4. The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and 
Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof: but the 
Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the 
places of chusing Senators. 

The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall be 
on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day. 

Section 5. Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifi- 
cations of Its own Members, and a majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do 
Business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be author- 
ized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and under such 
Penalties as each House may provide. 

Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for 
disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two-thirds, expel a Member. 

Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time to time publish 
the same, excepting such Parts as may in their judgment require Secrecy; and the 
Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House on any question shall, at the Desire of 
one-fifth of those Present, be entered on the Journal. 

Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of the 
other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that in which 
the two Houses shall be sitting, 

Seci I IN 6. The Senators and Representatives shall receive a compensation for their 
Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United 
States. They shall in all cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be 
privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective 

*" Other persons " refers to slaves. See Amendments, Art. XIV, Sections i and 2, 



CONSTITUTION. v 

Houses, and in poing to and returning from the same, and for any Speech or Debate 
in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place. 

No Senator or Representative shall, during^ the time for which he was elected, be 
appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall 
have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such 
time ; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member 
of either House during his Continuance in Office. 

Section 7. All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Repre- 
sentatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with .Amendments as on other Bills. 

Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, 
shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States ; if 
he approve, he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that 
House in which it shall have origmated, who shall enter the Objections at large on 
their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two-thirds 
of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objec- 
tions, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved 
by two-thirds of that house, it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes 
of Both Houses shall be determined by Yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons 
voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House, respec- 
tively. If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays 
excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a law, in like 
Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent a 
Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law. 

Every Order, Resolution, or Vote, to which the Concurrence of the Senate and 
House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of Adjournment) 
shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the Same shall 
take Effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed 
by two-thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the Rules and 
Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill. 

Section 8. The Congress shall have Power 

To lay and collect Ta.xes. Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide 
for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, 
Imposts and E.xcises shall be uniform throughout the United States; 

To borrow Money on the credit of the United States; 

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and 
with the Indian Tribes; 

To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject 
of Bankruptcies throughout the United States; 

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard 
of Weights and Measures; 

To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of 
the United States; 

To establish Post Offices and post Roads; 

To promote the progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to 
Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective W^ritings and discoveries; 

To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court; 

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high seas, and Offences 
against the Law of Nations; 

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning 
Captures on Land and Water; 

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that L^se shall be 
for a longer Term than two Years; 

To provide and maintain a Navy; 

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces; 

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress 
Insurrections and repel Invasion; 

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing 
such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving 
to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of train- 
ing the Militia according to the Discipline prescribed by Congress; 

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not 
exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Accept- 
ance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to 
exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of 
the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, 
Dock Yards, and other needful Buildings; — And 

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution 
the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Gov- 
ernment of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof. 



vi APPENDIX. 

Section g. The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now 
existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to 
the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or Duty may be imposed 
on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person. 

The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in 
Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public safety may require it. 

No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed. 

No Capitation, or other direct. Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census 
or Enumeration therein before directed to be taken. 

No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State. 

No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the 
Ports of one State over those of another; nor shall Vessels bound to, or from, one State, 
be obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in another. 

No iVloney shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropria- 
tions made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expen- 
ditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time. 

No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States- and no Person holding 
any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, 
accept of any present. Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any 
King, Prince, or foreign State. 

Section io. No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation: 
grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin money; emit Bills of Credit; make any 
Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of 
Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant 
any Title of Nobility. 

No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on 
Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing its inspec- 
tion Laws ; and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on 
Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the LTnited States ; and all 
such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress. 

No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep 
Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with 
another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or 
in such imminent Danger as will not admit or Delay. 



ARTICLE II. 

Section i. The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States 
of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together 
with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows: 

Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a 
Number Electors, equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to 
which the State may be entitled in the Congress ; but no Senator or Representative, 
or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be 
appointed an Elector. 

* The Eletcors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Per- 
sons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with them- 
selves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number 
of Votes for each ; which List they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the 
Seat of the Government of the LTnited States, directed to the president of the Senate. 
The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of Repre- 
sentatives, open all the Certificates and the Votes shall then be counted. The Person 
having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a 
Majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed ; and if there be more than one 
who have such Majority and have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of 
Representatives shall immediately chuse by Ballot one of them for President ; and if 
no Person have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall 
in like Manner chuse the President. But in chusing the President, the Votes shall be 
taken by States, the Representation from each State having one Vote ; a Quorum for 
this Purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two thirds of the States, and 
a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a Choice. In every Case, after the 
Choice of the President, the Person having the greatest Number ot Votes of the Elect- 
ors shall be the Vice President, but if there should remain two or more who have 
equal Votes, the Senate shall chuse from them by Ballot the Vice President. 



♦Superseded by the twelfth arnendment. 



CONf^TTTUTION. vii 

"Hie Congress may determine the Time of chusing- the Electors, and the Day on 
which they shall give their Votes ; which Day shall be the same throughout the 
United States. 

No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the 
time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President ; 
neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the 
age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States. 

In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, 
or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said office, the same shall 
devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by Law provide for the Case of 
Removal, Death, Resignation, or Inability, both of the President and Vice President. 
declaring what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act accord- 
ingly, until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected. 

The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which 
shall neither be increased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have 
been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from 
the United States, or any of them. 

Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or 
Affirmation : 

"I do solemnly swear (or Affirm^ that I will faithfully execute the Office of Presi- 
dent of "the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and 
defend the "Constitution of the United States." 

Section 2. The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of 
the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual 
Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal 
Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties 
of their respective Offices and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons 
for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment. 

He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make 
Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, 
and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, 
other Public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Offi- 
cers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for 
and which shall be established by Law; but the Congress may by Law vest the Appoint- 
ment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the 
Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments. 

The President shall have the Power to till all Vacancies that may happen during the 
Recess of the Senate, by granting Commission which shall expire at the End of their 
ne.xt Session. 

Section 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State 
of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge 
necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, 
or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the 
time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper; he 
shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws 
be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the officers of the L?nited States. 

Section 4. The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States 
shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Brib- 
ery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors. 



ARTICLE III. 

Section i. The Judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme 
Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and 
establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their offices 
during good Behavior, and shall, at stated times, receive for their Services, a Compen- 
sation which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office. 

Section 2. The Judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, aris- 
ing under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States and Treaties made, or 
which shall be made, under their Authority; - to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, 
other public Ministers and Consuls; — to all Cases of admiralty a nd maritime Jurisdic- 
tion;— to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party; — to controver- 
sies between two or more States; — between a State and Citizens of another State; — 
between Citizens of different States, between Citizens of the same Slate claiming Lands 
under Grants of different States, and between a Slate, or the Citizens thereof, and 
foreign States. Citizens or Subjects. 

In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those 



viii APPENDIX. 

in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. 
In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Juris- 
diction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations 
as the Congress shall make. 

The Trial of all Crimes, except Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such 
Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed; but 
when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the 
Congress may by Law have directed. - 

Section 3. Treason against the L'nited States, shall consist only in levying War 
against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No 
Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the 
same overt Act, or on Confession in open court. 

The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no 
Attainder of Treason shall work corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the 
Life of the Person attained. 

ARTICLE IV. 

Section i. Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts 
Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by 
general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall 
be proved, and the Effect thereof. 

Section 2. The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immuni- 
ties of Citizens in the several States. 

A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall flee 
from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on Demand of the executive Author- 
ity of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having 
Jurisdiction of the Crime. 

No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping 
into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged 
from such Service or Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to 
whom such Service or Labour may be due. 

Section 3, New States maybe admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no 
new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor 
any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without 
the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress. 

The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regu- 
lations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the L^nited States; and 
nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the 
United States, or of any particular State. 

Section 4. The LTnit'ed States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Repub- 
lican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion, and on 
Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be 
convened) against domestic Violence. 

ARTICLE V. 

The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both Houses shall deem t necessary, shall 
propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of tne Legislatures of 
the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which in either 
Case shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when 
ratified bv the Legislatures of three-fourths of the several Stated, or by Conventions 
in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed 
by the Congress: Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year 
one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth 
Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, 
shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate. 

ARTICLE VI. 

All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into before the Adoption of this 
Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution, as 
under the Confederation. ,.,,,,, . - -n, 

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pur- 
suance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority 



COXSTirUTIOX. Lx 

of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land ; and the Judges in every 
State shall be bound thereby, any thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to 
the Contrary notwithstanding. 

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the 
several State Legislatures, and all the executive and judicial Officers, both of the 
United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath, or Affirmation, to 
support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required asa Qualifi- 
cation to any Office or public Trust under the United States. 

ARTICLE Vn. 

The Ratifications of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for the Estab- 
lishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the Same. 



Artic/es in Addition to, and Amendment of, the Constitution of the United 
States of America. Proposed by Congress, and ratified by the Legis- 
latures of the several States, pursuatit to the fifth article of the original 

Constitution. 

ARTICLE I. 

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting 

the free e.\ercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the 

right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress 

of grievances. 

ARTICLE II. 
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of 
the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. 

ARTICLE III. 
No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of 
the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. 

ARTICLE IV. 

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, 

against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants 

shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly 

describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. 

ARTICLE V. 
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless 
on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, e.\cept in cases arising in the land or 
naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; 
nor shall any person be subject for the same ofifence to be twice put in jeopardy of life 
or limb; nor shall be compelled in any Criminal Case to be a witness against himself, 
nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall 
private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. 

ARTICLE VI. 

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public 
trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been 
committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be in- 
formed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses 
against him; to have Compulsory process for obtaining Witnesses in his favour, and 
to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence. 

ARTICLE VII. 
In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars 
the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury shall be other- 
wise re-e.xamined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the 
common law. 



X APPENDIX. 

ARTICLE VIII. . 
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and uii- 
usual punishment inflicted. 

ARTICLE IX. 

The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny 
or disparage others retained by the people. 

ARTICLE X. 
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited 
by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. 

ARTICLE XL* 

The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit 
in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against any of the United States by citizens 
of another State, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign State. 

ARTICLE Xll.t 

The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for President 
and Vice President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state 
with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, 
and m distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice President, and they shall make dis- 
tinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice 
President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, 
and transmit, sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the 
President of the Senate; — The President of the Senate shall, in presence of the Senate 
and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be 
counted; — The person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the 
President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; 
and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers 
not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Represen- 
tatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the Presi- 
dent, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one 
vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two thirds 
of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the 
House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice 
shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice 
President shall act as President, as in the case of death or other constitutional disabil- 
ity of the President; — The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice Presi- 
dent, shall be the Vice President, if such number be a majority of the whole number 
of Electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest 
numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice President; a quorum for the pur- 
pose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of 
the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally in- 
eligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice President of the United 
States. 

ARTICLE XIII. i 

Section i. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for 
crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United 
States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. 

Section z. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate 
legislation. 

ARTICLE XlV.g 

Section i. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the 

jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they 

reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or 

immunities of citizens of the United States ; nor shall any state deprive any person of 



♦Proposed in i7q4; adopted 1798. 

t This article is substituted for Clause 3, Sec. I., Art. II., and annuls it 

t Adopted 1865. 

§ Adopted 1868. 



CONSTITUTIOX. xi 

life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, nor deny to any person within 
Its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. 

Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states accord- 
ing to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, 
excluding Indians not taxed. Hut when the right to vote at any election for the choice 
of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, representatives in 
Congress, the executive or judicial officers of a state, or the membeis of the Legisla- 
ture thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such"state, being twenty-one 
years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for 
participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be 
reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the 
whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such state. 

Section 3. No person shall be a senator or representative in Congress, or elector of 
President or Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United 
States, or under any state, who having previously taken an oath as a member of Con- 
gress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state Legislature, 
or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the 
United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or 
given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two- 
thirds of each house, remove such disability. 

Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, 
including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppress- 
ing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the L'nited States 
nor any state shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insuirec- 
tion or rebellion against the L'nited States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation 
of any slave ; but all such debts, obligations, and claims shall be held illegal and void. 

Section 5. Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the 
provisions of this article. 

ARTICLE XV.* 

Section i. The rights of citizens of the LTnited States to vote shall not be denied or 
jbridged by the United States, or by any state, on account of race, color, or previous 
condition of servitude. 

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legis- 
lation. 

* Adopted 1870. 



INDEX 



Adams, John, :oo, 142, 143, 179. 

" John Q., 177. 17S. 
Aguinaldo captured, 445. 
Alabama admitted to Union, 176; seced 

232. 
Alabama Claims, 407. 
AlalniiitcL^ cruiser, 359-361. 
Alamance, Battle, 87. 
Albemarle, Duke of, 64. 
Alamo Massacre, 198. 
Alaska purchased, 401. 
Albci>iarU\ ironclad, 361, 362. 
Alexandria occupied, 257. 
Algiers, treaty with (1795), 13S, 1157. 
Alien and Sedition Laws, 144, 145. 
Alleghany Mountain, Battle, 272. 
Allen, Ethan, 92. 
Almonte, General, 202. 
Anderson, Robert, 234. 248. 
Andre, Major, 114, 115. 
Anne, Queen, War, 71. 
Anti-Federalists, 132. 
Apaches (Indians), 422. 
Arkansas admitted to the Union, i 

secedes, ;:49. 
Arkansas^ ship, 310, 311. 
Armistead, General, 332-335. 
Arnold, Benedict, 96, loS, 114, 120, 121. 
Ashley, General Turner, 29:, 293. 
Atlanta, surrendered, 340; burned, 344. 
Atlantic cable, 227. 
Appomatto.x. surrender, 379. 
Arthur, Chester A., 415, 417. 
Augusta captured. 119. 
Austin, Moses, 197. 

" Stephen F., 197, 198. 
Averysboro, Battle, 369. 

B 

Bacon's Rebellion, 50. 
Bagley, Ensign Worth, 441. 
Balboa Nunez de, 24 



Ball's Bluff, Battle, 365. 

Baltimore, Fight in (1861), 256. 

Banks, General N. P., 357. 

Barksdale, General, 333. 
es, Barnwell, John, 66. 

Barron, Captain, 152. 

Baum, Colonel, io8. 

Beauregard, Gustave T., 247, 258, 260,280, 
354- 

Bee, General Barnard E., 262. 

Belmont, Battle, 268. 

Bemis Heights, Battle, 108. 

Bennington, Battle, 108. 

Benton, Thomas H., 183. 

Bentonville, Battle, 369. 

Berkley, Gov., 49. 

Berryman, Lieut., 227. 

Big Bethel, Battle, 259. 

Big Black River, Battle, 314. 

Black Hawk war, 187. 

Blackburn's Ford, 260. 

Blackstocks, 117. 

Blaine, James G., 419. 

Blue, Lieut. Victor, 441. 
i8; Blunt, General, 307. 

Bon Hoviitie Richard, warship, 112. 

Boone, Daniel, 128, 140. 

Booneville, Battle, 268. 

Boston evacuated, 97. 

Boston Tea Party, 85. 

Braddock, General, 73. 

Bragg, General Bra.xton, 206, 305, 306, 
308, 31S. 

Brainerd, David L., 418. 

Brandywine, Battle, io6. 

Breckinridge, General John C, 270, 311, 
351- 

Brock, General, 157. 

Brooke, Commodore John >L, 227, 283, 287. 

Brown, General, 162. 

" John, 220, 228-230. 

Buchanan, Commodore, 284. 
" James, 224, 225. 
[siii] 



XIV 



INDEX. 



Buckner, General, 276. 

Buell, General, 2jq. 

Buena Vista, 205. 

Bunker Hill, 92. 

Burgoyne, General, 107, to8; surrender 

of, 109. 
Burnside, General A. E., 302. 
Burr, Aaron, 150. 
Butler, General B. F., 283, 351. 
" Colonel John, iii. 



Cabot, John and Sebastian, 23. 
Calhoun, John C, 174, 177, 184, 213. 
California, gold in, 210; admitted to 

Union, 214. 
Callabee, Battle, 164. 
Calvert, Leonard, 63. 
Camp, Jackson, 257, 268. 
Campbell, Colonel, 117. 
" John A, 246. 

Canby, General Edward S., 408. 
Canonicus, 52. 
Carnifex Ferry, Battle, 271. 
Carrick's Ford, Battle, 258. 
Carroll, Charles, loi. 
Carthage, Battle, 268. 
Cartier, Jacques, 30. 
Caswell, Colonel, 98. 
Cave Hill, Battle, 307. 
Cedar Creek, 355. 
Cedar Run, Battle, 296. 
Cerro Gordo, Battle, 206, 208. 
Cervera, Admiral, 441. 
Chalmers, General J. R., 305. 
Champlain, Samuel, 33. 
Chancellorsville, Battle, 321, 322. 
Chapultepec captured, 2:8. 
Charleston founded, 65, 98; surrender of, 

115; siege, 336. 
Charter Oak, 56. 
Chattanooga, Battle, 318. 
Cheat Mountain Pass, 265. 
Cheatham, General, 30S. 
Chi-siipi-ake, frigate, 152, 153; captured, 

158. 
Chicago Exposition, 432. 
Chickamauga, Battle, 317. 
Chickasaw Bayou, Battle, 312. 
Chili, trouble with, 427. 
Chippewa, Battle, 162. 
Churubusco, Battle, 208. 



Clark, William, 151. 
Clarke, Colonel, 119. 

" George R., in. 
Clay, Henry, 174, 186, 187, 214, 216. 
Clayborne. Wm., 63. 
Cleburne, General P., 342. 
Cleveland, Colonel, 117. 

" Grover, 419, 420, 430. 

Clinton, George, 154. 

" Sir Henry, 109, 114, 115. 

Cobb, Howell, 213. 

Cockrell, Colonel, 307. 

Coffee, General, 164. 

Cold Harbor, Battle, 294, 351. 

Colonial Life, 76. 

Colorado admitted, 409. 

Colquitt, General A. H., 364 

Columbus, 15-23. 

Conception, 198. 

Confederacy formed, 235. 

Confederation, Articles of, 102 

Congress, Continental, First, 86; Second, 

95- 
Constitution of U. S. adopted, 131. 

Constitution and Gucrriere^ frigates, 158. 

Contreras, Battle, 208. 

Convention, Charleston (i860), 233, 231 

Conway Cabal, 106. 

Corinth, captured, 303; Battle, 306. 

Cornwallis, General, 103, 117, 119-122. 

Cortez, 27. 

Cotton gin, 139. 

Countess 0/ Scarlwrough^ warship, 112. 

Cowpens, Battle, 118. 

Crittenden, Colonel, 205, 216 

" John J., 232. 

Croatan, 37. 

Croghan, Captain, 161 

Cuba, insurrection in, 438. 

Custer, General, 408. 

D 
Dade, Major, 187. 
Dahlgren, Colonel U., 346. 
Dakota, North and South, admitted, 426. 
Dallas, George M., 201. 
Dalton, Battle, 343. 
Dare, Virginia, 37. 
Davis, Jefferson, 204, 206, 235-239, 250, 257, 

263, 270, 402-404. 
De Grasse, Count, 122. 
De Haven, Lieutenant, 215 



INDEX. 



De Kalb, Baron, 105, 117. 
De Leon, Ponce, 25. 
De Soto, Hernando, 26. 
De Vaca, Cabeza, 27. 
Decatur, Stephen, 148, 167. 
Delaware, Lord, 45. 
Delaware settled, 61. 
Dennis, Captain, 49. 
Dewey, Admiral George, 440. 
Dinwiddle, Governor, 72. 
Dorchester Heights, 97. 
Dorr, Thomas W., 195, 196. 
Douglas, Stephen A., 21S, 231. 
Drainesville, Battle, 265. 
Drake, Sir Francis, 36, 39. 
Dred Scott case, 225. 
Drewry's Bluff, 290. 
Duane, William J., 183. 
Dunmore, Lord, 96. 
Dupont, Admiral, 336. 
" Commander. 279. 



Early, General Jubal A., 263, 354, 355, 357- 

El Caney, 442- 

Ellsworth, Elmer F., 257. 

Embargo Act, 153. 

Emigrant Aid Societies. 220. 

Emuckfaw. Battle, 164. 

Enotochopeo, Battle, 164. 

Eutaw Springs, Battle, 119. 

Evans, General N. G., 265. 



Fair Oaks, 290. 
Fairfax Court House, 257. 
Fallen Timbers, Battle, 136. 
Falling Waters, Battle, 259. 
Fanin, Colonel, 199. 
Farragut, Admiral, 282, 359. 
Federalists, 132. 
Ferdinand, King, 17. 
Ferguson, Colonel, 117. 
Fernandina captured, 279. 
Field, Cyrus W., 227. 
Filipino Insurrection, 444- 
Fillmore, Millard, 212. 
Finnegan, General, 364. 
Fisher's Hill, Battle, 355- 
Fishing Creek, 117. 
Fitch, John, 152. 



Florida, discovered, 25; 171; admitted 10 

Union, 201: secedes, 232. 
Floyd, John B., 164, 234, 276. 
Foote, Commodore, 275. 
Forrest, General Bedford, 311. 

" General Nathan B., 303, 334. 321. 
364. 
Fort Brown, 204. 

" Conger, 418. 

" de Russy, captured, 337. 

" Donelson, 275, 276. 

" Du Quesne, 75. 

" Erie captured, 162. 

" Fisher attacked, 364; captured. 366 

" Frontenac, 33. 

" Gregg, 377- 

" Henry, 275. 

" Kaskaskia, iii. 

" Macon, 279. 

" Meigs, 160. 

" Mims, 163. 

" Moultrie, 98, 234. 

" Pickens, 267. 

" Pillow, 282, 364. 

" Schuyler, 108. 

" Stedman, captured, 373. 

" Stephenson, 161. 

" Sumter, 234, 245. 

" Vincennes, in. 

" Washington, captured, 103. 
Fortress Monroe, 267. 
Forts, Hatteras Inlet, captured, 267. 

" Port Royal Harbor, captured, 267. 

" Tybee Island, captured, 267. 
Franklin, Battle, 342. 
Franklin, Benjamin, 100, loi, 105. 
Fredericksburg, Battle, 302. 
Fremont, Captain, 209. 
French and Indian war, 72. 
French fleet arrives, no. 
Frenchtown massacre, 160. 
Frobisher, Martin, 35. 
Front Royal, 292. 
Fugitive Slave Law. 214. 
Fulton, Robert, 151, 172- 



Gadsden purchase, 220. 

Gaines's Mill, 294. 

Galveston, engagement, 313, 314. 



XVI 



INDEX. 



Garfield, James A., 415, 416. 

Garnett, General, 258, 259, 332, 333. 

Garrison, William L., 188. 

Gas/>ei\ destroyed, 8S. 

Gates, General, 106, 108, 117. 

Geiger, Emily, anecdote of, 120. 

Genet, Minister, 137. 

Georj^e, Kin^, war, 72. 

Georgia, settled, 67; secedes, 232. 

Germantown, Battle, 106. 

Geronimo, Indian Chief, 422. 

Gettysburg, Battle, 328, 330. 

Gibbon, General, 409. 

Gibbs, General, 166. 

Gilbert, Sir H., 35, 36. 

Gilmore, General, 336. 

Glorietta, Battle, 307. 

Goliad, ig8; massacre, 199. 

Gonzalis, 198. 

Gosnold, Bartholomew, 40. 

Gourges, 32. 

Grant, General U. S., 238, 278, 338, 375, 

378, 379. 381, 405, 406. 
Greely, Lieut. A. W., 417. 
Greene, Nathaniel, 117-119. 
Grinnell, Moses, 215. 
Guilford Court House, Battle, 119. 

H 
Hale, Nathan, 103. 
Halleck, General H. W., 270. 
Hamilton, Alexander, 134, 150. 
Hamlin, Hannibal, 230. 
Hanging Rock, Battle, 116. 
Hanover Court House, Battle, 290. 
Harmar, General, 136. 
Harper's Ferry, 256; surrender, 300. 
Harrison, Benjamin, 424, 425. 

" William H., 156, i6o, 162, 193. 

Harrisonburg, Battle, 2;3. 
Hartsville, Battle, 308. 
Hawaii, revolution, 430; annexed, 445. 
Hawkins, Sir John, 40. 
Hawes, Richard, 305. 
Hayes, Rutherford B., 409, 413. 
Hayne, Isaac, 120. 

Robert Y., 184. 
Hennepin, Father, 34. 
Henry, Patrick, 82, 85, 96. 
Heth, General, 328. 
Hill, General A. P., 302, 354. 377. 



Hindman, General, 307. 
Hobkirk's Hill, Battle, 119. 
Hoke, General, 364. 
Holly Springs, captured, 312. 
Hood, General John B., 340, 342, 344. 
Hooker, General Joseph, 321, 323. 
Horse Shoe Bend, Battle, 164. 
Houston, Sam, 198, 199. 
Howe, Admiral, 102. 

" General, 93, 97, 98, 102, 106. 
Hudson, Henry, 37, 39. 
Huger, General, 115, 258. 
Huguenots, 66. 
Hull, Isaac, 158. 

" General William, 157. 
Hunter, General David, 351. 

I 
Idaho admitted to Union, 426. 
Illinois admitted to Union, 176. 
" Illinois County," iii. 
Independence Hall, loi. 
Indiana admitted to Union, 168. 
Indians, 12, 13. 
Ingraham, Duncan N., 221. 
Iowa admitted to the Union, 210. 
Isabella, Queen, 22. 
Island No. 10, 282. 
luka. Battle, 306. 

J 
Jackson, Andrew, 164, 165, 170, 180-182, 
189. 
" Governor, 26S. 
" General Henry R., 265. 
" James W., 257. 
" General Thomas J., 259, 262, 291- 
294, 324, 323- 
Jacksonville, captured, 279. 
Jamestown, founded. 42. 
Japan, 220. 

Jasper, Sergeant, 98, 112. 
Jay, Chief Justice, 138. 
Jefferson, Thomas, 100, loi, 146, 147, 173, 

179. 
Johnson, Andrew. 397, 398; impeached, 
401. 
" General Edward, 265. 
" iNIajor John, 336. 
" Richard M., 189. 
Johnston, General Albert S., 205, 226, 270, 
275, 279, 280. 



INDEX. 



Johnston, Joseph E., 258, 259, 260, 288, 290, 

338, 340, 369. 383. 
Jones, Lieutenant Catesby, 284. 

Paul, 112. 

General W. E., 351. 

K 

Kane, Elisha Kent, 215. 
Kansas admitted to Union, 228. 
Kansas-Nebraska Bill, 21S. 
Keane, General. 165, 166. 
Kearney, General, 204, 209. 
Kearsa^ge, cruiser, 360, 361. 
Kenesaw Mountain, Battle, 340. 
Kentucky admitted to Union, 140. 
Kernstown, Battle, 291. 
Key, Francis S., 163. 
Kilpatrick, General, 346. 
King's Mountain, Battle, 117. 
Know-Nothing Party, 223. 
Knoxville, siege, 320. 
Kosciusko, 105. 
Kossuth, 221. 
Koszta, Martin, 221. 
Ku Klux Klan, 410. 



La Salle, 33, 34. 

Lafayette, Marquis de, 105, 120, 122, 176. 

Lake Champlain, Battle, 162. 

Lake Erie, Battle, 161. 

Lamar, Mirabeau B., 198. 

Lamb, Colonel Wi'liam, 366. 

Laudonniere, Captain, 31. 

Lawrence, Captain James, 158. 

Lawton, General, 442. 

Lee, Charles, log. 

" Harry, 116, 119. 

" Richard H., 99. 

" General R. E., 206, 229, 257, 265, 291, 
256, 332, 303, 323, 332, 333, 348, 378, 

379. 381, 382-39°- 
" General Stephen D., 312. 
Leif the Lucky, 14. 
Letcher, Governor, 256. 
Lewis, Andrew, 96. 

" Meriwether, 151. 
Lexington, Battle, gi. 

" captured, 268. 
Lincoln, Abraham, 230, 231, 239, 243-246, 
249, 256, 313, 363. 368, 382. 



Lincoln-Douglas discussion, 228. 

General, 112, 115, 123, 130. 
Little Crow, Indian Chief, 307. 
Livingston, Robert R., 100. 
Locke, John, 64. 
Lockwood, James B., 418. 
Lone Jack, Battle, 307. 
Long Island, Battle, 102. 
Longstreet, General, 317, 330. 
Lopez, General, 216. 
Louisiana admitted, 167; secedes, 232. 

" territory, 34. 

" purchase, 149. 
Lundy, Benjamin, 188. 
Lundy's Lane, Battle, 162. 
Lyon, Brigadier-General, 268. 

M 
McClellan, General George B., 258, 254, 

288, 294, 295. 
McCown, General, 308. 
McCrae, Jane, 108. 
McCulloch, General B., 268, 278. 
McDonough, Commodore, 162. 
McDowell, Colonel, 117. 
McDowell Battle, 292. 
McDowell, General Irvin, 259, 260. 
McKinley, William, 436, 437, 445. 
McPherson, General, 340. 
Madison, James, 154, 155. 
Magellan, Ferd, 24 
Magnetic Telegraph, 196. 
Magruder, General John B., 258, 259, 2S8, 

313- 
Maine, settled, 57. 
Maine^ explosion, 439. 
Malvern Hill, Battle, 295. 
Manassas Junction (Bull Run), Battle, 

first, 261, 262; second, 29S. 
Manila, captured, 444. 
Mansfield, Battle, 357 
Manson, General, 304. 
Marion, Francis, 116. 
Marmaduke, General John S., 26S, 307. 
Marshall, John, 146. 
Maryland, settled, 63. 
Mason, James M., 270, 271. 
Mason and Dixon's Line, 62. 
Maurv. Matthew F., 222, 223, 227. 
Mavila (Mobile), 26. 
Mayflower^ 52. 



XVIU 



INDEX. 



Meade, General George G., 328, 330, 333 
Mechanicsville, Battle, 294. 
Memphis, 2S2. 
Menendez, Pedro, 27, 32. 
J\Ierri»!ac^ 283. 
Merritt, General Wesley, 440. 
Mexico, war with, 202; surrender of, 208. 
Michigan admitted to Union, 188. 
Miles, General Nelson A., 402, 443. 
Mill Spring, 273. 
Milroy, General R. H., 255. 
Minnesota admitted to Union, 228. 
Minnesota, steamer, 286. 
Missionary Ridge, capttired, 318. 
Mississippi, discovered, 26. 
Mississippi admitted to Union, 176; se- 
cedes, 232. 
Missouri compromise, 173, 174. 
Mobile, 177. 
Modoc Indians, 40S. 
Molino del Rey, 20S. 
Monitor, 286. 
Monk's Corner, 115. 
Monmouth Court House. Battle, 109. 
Monocacy, Battle, 354. 
Monroe, James, 168, 169, 170. 
Monroe Doctrine, 175. 
Montana admitted, 426. 
Monterey captured, 204. 
Montgomery, Richard, 95. 
Moore's Creek, Battle, 98. 
Morgan, Daniel, 96, 108, 118. 

" General John H., 303, 304, 30S, 
320. 
Mormons, 191, 226. 
Morristown, 105. 
Morse, S. F. B., iq6. 
Mosby, Colonel John S., 356. 
Motte, Mrs. 120. 
Mound Builders, 11. 
Munfordville, surrendered, 305. 
Murfreesboro, captured, 304; Battle, 308. 

N 
Narvaez, Pamphilo de, 25. 
Nauvoo, 191. 
Nelson, Governor, 122. 
Nevada admitted, 363. 
New Hampshire settled, 57. 
New Jersey, first settlement, 59. 
New Orleans, Battle, 165; surrender of, 
282, 283. 



Xew York, tirst settlement, 58 
Newbern, 279. 
Newtonia, Battle, 307. 
Nez Percez Indians, 414. 
Ninety-Si.x, Battle, 119. 
North Carolina settled, 64. 
Northmen or Norsemen, 14, 15. 
Northwest territory, m. 
Nullification, 184. 

O 

Oglethorpe, James E., 67, 68, 70, 71. 

O'Hara, General, 123. 

Ohio admitted to Union, 148. 

Okeechobee, Lake, Battle, 187. 

"Old Dominion," 49. 

Olustee, Battle, 334. 

Omnibus Bill, 213. 

Ordinance of (1787), 129. 

Oregon admitted to Union, 228. 

Osceola, 187. 

P 
Pacific Ocean discovered, 24. 
Packenham, Sir Edward, 165, 166. 
Palo Alto, 204. 
Parsons' case. Si. 

Patterson, General Robert, 258, 259, 260. 
Pea Ridge (Elk Horn), Battle, 278. 
Peace Conference (1861), 233. 
Pemberton, General, 316. 
Pender, General, 333. 
Penn, William, 61. 
Pennsylvania, settled, 61. 
Peratta, Battle, 307. 

Perry, U. S. Brig., 268. 
Perry, Commodore, 161, 220. 
Perryville, Battle, 305. 
Petersburg, Siege, 354. 
Philadelphia laid out, 62. 
Philip, King, 54, 55. •- 
Phiiippi, 257. 
Philippine Islands, 440. 
Phillips, General, 120. 
Pickens, General, 119. 

" Governor, 247. 
Pickett, General, 332, 375. 
Piedmont, Battle, 351. 
Pierce, Franklin, 216, 217. 
Pike, General Albert, 278. 
Pilgrim Fathers, 51, 52. 
Pillow, General, 276. 



INDEX. 



XIX 



Pitcher, Molly, 109. no. 
Pleasant Hill, Battle, 358. 
Plymouth, N. C, captured, 364. 
Pocahontas, 45. 
Point Pleasant, Battle, SS. 
Political Parties formed, 141. 
Polk, James K., 201, 202. 

'■ General Leonidas, 268, 270, 27S. 
Pope, General John, 296, 298. 
Port Gibson, 314. 

" Hudson, surrendered, 315. 
Porter, Admiral David D., 358. 
" General Fitz J., 290. 
John L., 283. 
Porto Rico, 443. 
Potts, Isaac, io6, 107, 
Powhatan, 44. 
Prairie Grove, Battle, 307. 
Prebel, Commodore, 148. 
Prescott, Colonel, 93. 
Prisidcut, frigate, 155. 
Price. General Sterling, 26S, 278, 305, 338. 
Princeton, Battle, 104. 
Proctor, Colonel, 160, 161. 
Puebla, 208. 

Pulaski, Count, 105, n2. 
Putnam, General, 98, 102. 

Q 

Quebec captured, 74. 
Queen's Heights, B:'.tlle, 157. 
Quitman, John A., 209. 

R 

Rahl, Colonel, io(. 
Railway, first, 179. 
Raleigh, Sir Walter, 36. 
Ravvdon. Lord, 120. 
Reams's Station, Battle, 354. 
Reconstruction act, 400. 
Red Eagle, Chief, 163. 
Reed, General, 107. 
Reno, General. 408. 
Resacd de la Palma, 204. 
Resaca, Battle, 3,0. 
Revolution, 81. 

Reynolds, General, 263, 320, 333. 
Ribault, John, 29. 30-32. 
Rich Mountain, Battle, 258. 
Richmond captured (1781), 120; made cap- 
ital. 257; burned, 376. 
Richmond (Ky.), Battle, 304. 



Roanoke, 36. 

Rochambeau, 122. 

Rodgers, Commodore, 155. 

Rolfe, John, 45. 

Rosecrans, General W. S., 265, 306, 309, 

317- 
Ross, General, 163. 
Rugely, Colonel, iiS. 

S 
Sabine Pass, 316. 
Sailor's Creek, Battle, 378. 
St. Augustine founded, 29. 
St. Clair, General, 136. 
St. Leger, 108. 
St. Louis, 257. 
Salem, witch delusion, 55. 
Salt Lake City, 192. 
Salzburghers, 68, 70. 
Samoset, 52. 

Sampson, Rear Admiral W. T., 441, 442. 
San Antonio, 198; Battle, 208. 
San Felipe, 19S. 
San Francisco, 210. 
San Jacinto, Battle, 199, 200. 
San Juan boundary, 228. 
San Salvador, 20. 
Santa Anna, 199, 203, 205, 208. 
Santa Fe, 25. 
Santiago captured, 443. 
Saunder's Creek, Battle, 117. 
Savage Station, Battle, 294. 
Savannah, capture of, 112. 
Savannah privateer, 267, 268. 
Scarry Creek. Battle, 271. 
Schley, Rear Admiral William S., 441, 442. 
Schofield, General, 342. 
School Fund, 129. 
Schuyler, General, loS. 
Scott, Winfield, 162, 187. 206, 245. 
Sedgwick, General John, 350. 
Seminole war, 170, 187. 
Semmes, General, 333. 

" Rear Admiral Raphael, 360. -J i 
Sera/'is, warship, 112. 
Seven Days' Battles, 294. 
Seven Pines, 230. 
Seward, William H., 246. 
Seymour, General, 364. 
Shafter, General William R., 443. 
Sharpsburg {.'\ntietam). Battle, .^oo. 
Shays, Daniel, 130. 



XX 



INDEX. 



Shelby, Colonel, 117. 

Shenandoah^ cruiser, 362, 363. 

Sheridan, General Philip, 350, 355, 356, 

371- 375- 
Sherman, Roger, 100. 

" General W. T., 306, 338, 344, 369. 

Shiloh, Battle, 279, 280. 
Short, Colonel, i6r. 
Sibley, Colonel, 307. 

" General, 307. 
Sigel, General F., 268, 278, 351. 
Sioux Indians, 408. 

" war, 307. 
Slavery first introduced, 47, 69; agitation, 

213- 
Slidell, John, 270, 271. 
Smith, General G. W., 290. 

" Captain John, 43. 

" Joseph, 191, 192. 

" General Kirby, 252, 304, 358, 383. 

" General W. S., 364. 
South Carolina, secedes, 232. 
Spain, treaty with (1793), 13S. 
Spottsylvania Court House, 350. 
Stamp Act, 83. 
Star of the West^ 234. 
Stark, General, 108. 
" Starving Time," 45. 
Stephens, Alexander H., 235, 270, 368. 
Steuben, Baron, 105, 120. 
Stewart, Captain Charles, 166. 
Stockton, Commodore, 209. 
Stoneman, General, 371. 
Stuart, General, J. E. B., 263, 264, 294, 302, 

324. 
Sturgis, General, 364. 
Sullivan, General, no. 
Sumner, General, 290. 
Sumter, General, n6, 117. 



Texas, Revolution, 197; annexed, 200; se- 
cedes, 232, 239. 
Thames, Battle of, 162. 
Thomas, General George H., 273, 342. 
Thompson, General, 187. 

Jacob, 235. 
Tilghman, Colonel, 275. 
Tippecanoe, Battle, 156. 
Tishamingo Creek, 364. 
Tobacco Rebellion, 50. 
Travis, Colonel, 198. 

Treaty with England, 124; (1794), 138; 
(1S14), 167. 

'■ with Japan, 220. 

" with Mexico, 209. 
Trenton, Battle, 102, 103. 
Trevilian's, Battle, 352. 
Tripoli, war with, 148. 
Trist, Nicholas P., 208. 
Truxton, Commodore, 145. 
Turner, Nat., insurrection, 189. 
Tyler, John, 192, 194. 

U 
United States Bank, organized, 134, 1S2. 
Utah admitted, 435. 

V 
Valley Forge, 106. 
Valverde, Battle, 307. 
Van Buren, Martin, 189, 193. 
Van Dorn, General E., 278, 311. 
Vera Cruz, captured, 206. 
Vermont, settled, 57; admitted to Union, 

140, 
Verrazani, 29, 30. 
Vespucci, Amerigo, 22. 
Vicksburg, 310; surrender, 316. 
Virginia secedes, 249. 
Virginia^ ship, 283, 284, 286-280. 



Taney, Roger B., 183. 

Tariff, 179. 

Tarleton, Colonel, 115, 117-119. 

Tarrytown, 114. 

Tattnall, Commodore, 285. 

Taylor, Zachary, 187, 204, 211, 212. 

" General R., 358, 383. 
Tecumseh, 156, 157. 
Tennessee admitted to Union, 141. 
Terry, General, 366. 



W 
Walker, General W. H. T., 340. 
Wallace, General Lew, 354. 
Warren, General, 94. 
Washington admitted to Union, 426. 

" City, 140; captured, 162. 

Washington, George, 72, 73, 74, 93, 97. 102, 
103, 106. 121, 122, 132, 145. 
William, 118. 
Wayne, Anthony, 136. 
Waynesboro, General, 371. 



INDEX. 



Webster, Daniel, 184, 214, 216. 
Webster-Ashburton treaty, 192; (1846), 

ig6. 
Weed, General, 333. 
Wesleys, John and Charles, 69. 
West Point, 114. 
West Virginia admitted, 334. 
Wethersford, 153. 

Wheeler, General Joseph, 30S, 442, 443. 
Whiskey Rebellion, 135. 
White Oak Swamp, Battle, 294. 
White Plains, 102. 
Whitefield, George, 69, 70. 
Whiting, General W. H. C, 366. 
Whitney, Eli, 139. 
Wilderness, Battle, 348. 
Wilkes, Captain, 271. 

" Lieut. Charles. 192. 
William, King, war, 71. 
Williams, Colonel, 117. 

Roger, 53, 56. 
Williamson, W^ P., 283. 



Wilmot Proviso, 313. 
Wilson's Creek, Battle, 268. 
Winchester, General, 160. 
Winchester Battle, 355. 
Winslow, Captain, 361. 

" Josiah, 54. 

Winlhrop, John, 53. 
Wirt, William, 150. 
Wisconsin admitted to Union, 210. 
Worth, William J., 188. 
Wright, General, 355. 
Wyoming admitted to Union, 436. 
" massacre, iii. 

y 

Yeardley, Governor, 47. 
Yellow Tavern, Battle, 350. 
Yemassee Indian trouble, 66. 
Yorktown, Siege of, 121. 



Zollicoffer, General, 273. 
Zook, General 333. 



3uB«-*190^ 



MAY 29 1901 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




011 448 718 1 



